Fun in the Great Outdoors

The five most popular outdoor recreational activities, ranked by the number of people aged 6 or older participating in the activity in 2011 (in 000s), and percent change in number participating since 2008...

1. Running/jogging: 50,713 (+23%)
2. Bicycling (paved surface): 40,349 (+6%)
3. Fishing (freshwater): 38,868 (-4%)
4. Hiking (day): 34,491 (+6%)
5. Camping (except RV and backpacking): 32,925 (-2%)

Source: Outdoor Foundation, Outdoor Recreation Participation: Topline Report 2012

Are You Richer than Your Parents?

Percentage of Americans with greater wealth than their parents: 50%.

Source: Pew Economic Mobility Project, Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations

Life is Expensive

How much does it cost to have a baby? A lot, according to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The median cost of an uncomplicated pregnancy, from prenatal visits through delivery, was $8,170 in 2009. For those with private health insurance, 85 percent of the cost was covered by insurance and 10 percent was paid out-of-pocket.

Source: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Health Care Expenditures for Uncomplicated Pregnancies, 2009

Gloom, but not Doom

Percentage of Americans who say...
National economic situation is good: 31%
Personal economic situation is good: 68%

Source: Pew Research Center, Pervasive Gloom about the World Economy

What Do Older Workers Want?

Money and health insurance. That is the finding of an AARP survey of workers aged 50 or older. When older workers are asked whether their primary reason for working is financial or non-financial, fully 78 percent say they are working for financial reasons such as the need for money or health insurance. Only 19 percent are working for the fun of it.

Source: AARP, What Are Older Workers Seeking?: An AARP/SHRM Survey of 50+ Workers

Retirement Readiness: What the SCF Reveals

Boomers are not ready for retirement. That's the finding of a new report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, which analyzes 2010 Survey of Consumer Finance data to determine the retirement readiness of older householders.

The typical household headed by a 55-to-64-year-old has only $120,000 in 401(k)/IRA savings--about the same as in 2007, according to CRR director and author of the report, Alicia H. Munnell. She warns that these households will be surprised at how little their retirement savings provides them in retirement. If a couple, for example, uses this savings to purchase a joint-survivor annuity, it would pay out only $575 a month. Except for Social Security, that $575 per month is likely to be the couple's only source of income, says Munnell, because the typical older householder has "virtually no financial assets outside of its 401(k) plan."

Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, 401(k) Plans in 2010: An Update from the SCF 

I Don't Think So

Which states will be the best places to live in 20 years? Gallup threw some "metrics" in a hat, gave it a tap and a twirl, and this is what they pulled out: the best places to live in 2032 will be the West North Central states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Source: Gallup, Where You'll Want to Live in 2032

Glimmer of Hope?

Question: "Are they [economists] really the only social scientists with anything useful to contribute to the efficient running of a government?" asks Richard H. Thaler in an article in the New York Times (Watching Behavior Before Writing the Rules).

Answer: Of course not, but try telling that to the U.S. government.

Economists monopolize government policymaking in the United States, says Thaler. Not so in Britain, where a few years ago the government decided to try something different. It created a Behavioral Insights Team manned by other kinds of social scientists (such as sociologists and psychologists) with the aim of helping government agencies function more efficiently by making it easier for people to do the right thing--like pay their taxes on time or weatherize their home. It worked. The team has already paid for itself many times over. Let's hope the U.S. government takes notice.

The Rise of Student Debt

The percentage of households with education loans has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new numbers from the Survey of Consumer Finances. In 2010, nearly one in five households (19 percent) had outstanding student debt, up from 9 percent in 1989. Among households with student debt, the median amount owed climbed from $5,100 to $13,000 during those years, after adjusting for inflation.

The numbers are worse for householders under age 35. Fully 40 percent had education loans in 2010, up from 17 percent in 1989. Young householders were once far more likely to have mortgage debt, vehicle loans, or credit card debt than student loans. Not anymore. The 40 percent of householders under age 35 with education loans surpasses the 34 percent with mortgage debt, the 32 percent with vehicle loans, and even the 39 percent with credit card debt.  

Source: Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances

Where Do Women Feel the Safest?

When women in 143 countries were asked whether they would feel safe walking alone at night in the area where they live, Gallup found big differences in feelings of security.

At the top of the list, 90 percent of women (and 93 percent of men) in the nation of Georgia say they would feel safe walking alone at night. At the bottom of the list, only 21 percent of women (and 36 percent of men) in Afghanistan feel safe. In the United States, 62 percent of women (and 89 percent of men) feel safe walking alone at night.

Source: Gallup, Women Feel Less Safe than Men in Many Developed Countries

Telecommuting: No Utopia

Be careful what you wish for. Telecommuting was once heralded as a way to reduce energy consumption, traffic congestion, and work-family conflict. Dream on. According to an analysis published in the Monthly Labor Review, telecommuting is instead being used by harried workers and demanding employers to cram additional hours of labor into an already full workweek.

About one in four employed Americans report working at least some hours at home each week, according to sociologists Mary C. Noonan and Jennifer L. Glass in their study "The Hard Truth about Telecommuting." Rather than being a benefit to workers, they write, "telecommuting appears to have become instrumental in the general expansion of work hours, facilitating workers' needs for additional work time beyond the standard workweek and/or the ability of employers to increase or intensify work demands among their salaried employees."

In their study, the authors examine whether workers use telecommuting as a substitute for office hours or on top of their 40-hour work week. They find that one-half to two-thirds of the hours workers spend telecommuting is on top of a full workweek--in short, overtime. Telecommuting is being used by workers to relocate overtime hours from the office to the home. "The ability of employees to work at home may actually allow employers to raise expectations for work availability during evenings and weekends and foster longer workdays and workweeks," they conclude.

21-Year-Olds in School

Percentage of 21-year-olds enrolled in school...

2010: 51%
2000: 40%

Source: Census Bureau, School Enrollment

Life Events among Older Americans

Percentage of Americans aged 50 or older who have experienced selected life events in the past five years...

Changed lifestyle due to medical condition: 23%
Became a grandparent: 19%
Retired from a job: 15%
Had an adult child move back home: 14%
Had a spouse/partner die: 4%

Source: AARP, How Insights on 50+ Adults Can be Useful to Local Businesses

Who's Ready to Retire?

Percentage of householders aged 50 to 59 who will be financially ready to retire (able to maintain their current living standards) by...

Age 62: 40%
Age 66: 66%
Age 70: 89%

Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, National Retirement Risk Index: How Much Longer Do We Need to Work?

Homeowner Wealth

The median net worth of the nation's homeowners was $163,856 in 2010, down from $215,619 in 2005--a decline of 24 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to the Census Bureau. Excluding home equity, the median net worth of homeowners was $44,260 in 2010, down from $55,580 in 2005.

Source: Census Bureau, Wealth and Asset Ownership

New Americans

Last year, 694,193 foreign-born residents of the United States became naturalized citizens. Twelve countries account for slightly more than half the total: Mexico (13.7%), India (6.6%), Philippines (6.1%), China (4.7%), Colombia (3.3%), Cuba (3.0%), Vietnam (3.0%), Dominican Republic (3.0%), Jamaica (2.1%), Haiti (2.0%), El Salvador (2.0), and South Korea (1.8%).

Source: Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Naturalizations: 2011

Pregnancy Outcomes

More than 6 million women become pregnant each year in the United States, yet only 4 million babies are born. That's because only 65 percent of pregnancies result in a live birth. Another 18 percent end in induced abortion and 17 percent in miscarriage.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Estimated Pregnancy Rates and Rates of Pregnancy Outcomes for the United States, 1990-2008

Household Income Rises in May

Median household income climbed 0.7 percent between April and May 2012 after adjusting for inflation, according to the latest monthly update from Sentier Research. The May median of $50,773 was $346 greater than the April median, a statistically significant increase. Falling prices were behind the increase--specifically the decline in the price of gasoline.

Despite the increase in median household income, the May median was 5.3 percent lower than median household income in June 2009--the end of the Great Recession. It was 7.7 percent lower than the median in December 2007, the start of the Great Recession. It was 8.6 percent lower than the median in January 2000. 

The Household Income Index for May 2012 was 91.4 (January 2000 = 100.0).

Source: Sentier Research, Household Income Trends: May 2012 

Spending: The Top Ten List

The ten items on which the average household spends the most were the same in 2010 as a decade earlier, although the order had changed and spending trends for the top ten items ranged from a 47 percent increase (health insurance) to a 63 percent decrease (federal income tax), after adjusting for inflation.

Here is the 2010 top ten list in rank order, along with how much the average household spent on those items and the percent change in spending since 2000, after adjusting for inflation...

1. Deductions for Social Security: $3,903 (+44%)
2. Groceries: $3,624 (-5%)
3. Mortgage interest: $3,154 (+1%); or Rent: $2,773 (+11%)
4. Vehicle purchases: $2,588 (-40%)
5. Gasoline and motor oil: $2,132 (+30%)
6. Restaurants: $2,081 (-6%)
7. Health insurance: $1,831 (+47%)
8. Property tax: $1,814 (+26%)
9. Electricity: $1,413 (+22%)
10. Federal income tax: $1,136 (-63%)

The average household spent $48,109 in 2010, almost identical to the $48,176 it spent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation. Some notable changes in the rankings of items on which the average household spends the most: Cell phone service surged from 66th to 14th place; College tuition climbed from 24th to 16th place; and Cable television service rose from 28th to 18th in the rankings.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys

Your Chance of Going to Prison

The likelihood that you will be imprisoned at some point in your life depends greatly on your demographic characteristics...

Lifetime Likelihood of Imprisonment
Black men: 1 in 3
Hispanic men: 1 in 6
White men: 1 in 17
Black women: 1 in 18
Hispanic women: 1 in 45
White women: 1 in 111

Source: The Sentencing Project, Trends in U.S. Corrections