10/84Jobs created by every billion dollars of U.S. government defense spending: 21,000
12/84Estimated number of defense-industry jobs that would be lost in the event of a nuclear freeze: 250,000
Of a female Columbia University MBA: $40,022
6/84Number of people who have applied for the job of executioner in New Jersey: 50
9/84Cost to consumers of “protecting” one job in the automobile industry via import restrictions: $85,400
9/84Percentage of Americans who say they would not accept a job if a lie-detector test was required: 55
11/85Percentage of Fortune 500 companies that tested employees and job applicants for illegal drug use in 1982: 10
Percentage that test today: 25
4/85Average number of Health and Human Services Department employees it takes to answer a letter to the secretary: 55
4/85Number of manufacturing jobs New England has gained since 1982: 64,650
4/85Total annual expenditures of U.S. corporations on employee-education programs: $60,000,000,000
Total annual expenditure of U.S. four-year public and private colleges and universities: $60,000,000,000
6/85Percentage of black high-school graduates under 25 who are unemployed: 26.8
Percentage of white high-school dropouts under 25 who are unemployed: 26.2
7/85Number of U.S. military officers who have retired since 1980 and taken jobs with defense contractors: 1,900
8/85Rank of the grapevine among employees’ leading sources of information about their company: 1
1/86Percentage of unemployed Americans who receive no unemployment benefits: 75
In South Africa: 4
10/86Number of jobs created during the Carter Administration: 10,600,000
2/86Portion of Fortune 1000 companies that employed undercover security agents in 1974: 1/10
2/86Percentage increase, since 1974, in the number of self-employed men: 12
3/86Percentage of families living below the poverty line in which at least one member is employed: 60
9/86Percentage of jobs created in the United States between 1978 and 1984 that pay less than $9,200 annually: 37
1/87Number of federal employees who have agreed to submit all future writing to the government for clearance: 290,000
1/87Jobs California has gained since 1981 as a result of increases in defense spending: 607,250
1/87Number of times since 1979 Britain has “refined” its method of counting the unemployed: 19
Number of those refinements that resulted in a lower unemployment rate: 18
11/87Number of computer, radar, and systems maintenance technicians employed by the FAA in 1978: 11,000
10/88Number of New York City public-school teachers who were assaulted on the job during the last school year: 400
12/88Number of the 2,869 U.S. Customs Service employees screened for drugs since 1986 who tested positive: 2
12/88Average salary and benefits of workers in American industries in which the number of jobs is increasing: $22,000
Average salary and benefits of workers in American industries in which the number of jobs is decreasing: $32,000
12/88Chances that a presidential appointee has received no formal training for the job: 4 in 5
12/88Chances that a white American man is self-employed: 1 in 7
Chances that a foreign-born Korean-American man is: 1 in 4
3/88Average number of attempts a Mexican makes before successfully crossing the U.S. border and landing a job: 3
3/88Estimated number of employees on the congressional payroll who are relatives of representatives or senators: 74
4/88Number of “obscenity specialists” employed by the Department of Justice: 93
8/88Chances that a New York City traffic officer was assaulted on the job in 1987: 1 in 5
9/88Number of Democratic National Committee staffers whose job title is Press Office Liaison to Celebrities: 1
10/89Percentage of job applicants to the Houston Police Department who say they have used marijuana: 50
10/89Chances that a post-office employee in New York City has failed a drug test during the last year: 1 in 3
11/89Percentage increase, since 1979, in the number of Americans unemployed for longer than six months: 51
7/89Payment that five former employees demanded from Du Pont in 1988 for not disclosing the Lycra formula: $10,000,000
8/89Rank of the prison system, among the fastest-growing sectors of government employment: 1
8/89Percentage of men earning more than $50,000 a year who say they have had at least six affairs with co-workers: 20
8/89Number of candidates who have declined the job of under secretary for acquisition at the Pentagon this year: 47
8/89Amount an unemployed graduate is seeking in a consumer-fraud suit against Goddard College: $61,500
9/89Change, since 1987, in the total number of manufacturing jobs in the United States: +379,000
Change, since 1987, in the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States held by union members: -175,000
9/89Percentage of fast-food restaurant employees who say they have stolen food or money from their employer: 62
1/90Percentage change, since 1980, in the number of American families composed of a housewife, an employed husband, and 2 children: -21
1/90Number of South African blacks who have lost their jobs since 1980 as a result of divestment: 3,520,000
10/90Years it would take Jim Bakker to earn enough to pay his federal fine at his current job cleaning prison toilets: 2,331
11/90Ratio of Coast Guard employees disciplined for drug violations to drug smugglers caught by the Coast Guard in 1988: 1:3
5/90Maximum amount Ted Turner fines his employees for using the word foreign instead of international on company time: $100
5/90Value of the year-end bonuses that Drexel Burnham Lambert gave its employees in December and January: $270,000,000
Estimated amount the company requested in bank loans before it filed for bankruptcy in February: $300,000,000
9/90Change, since 1972, in the percentage of employed American men who have an employer-financed pension plan: -5
Change in the percentage of employed American women who do: +5
1/91Number of Fortune 500 companies whose personnel departments have employed genetic screening or monitoring: 20
1/91Number of on-the-job injuries to Library of Congress employees in 1989 that “involved hot substances”: 15
Number that “involved floors or other walking surfaces”: 51
1/91University of Colorado employees traveling to the Orange Bowl this month to handle mascot Ralphie the Buffalo: 12
11/91Rank of murder, among the most common causes of on-the-job death for female workers in the United States: 1
2/91Percentage of U.S. firms with fewer than 100 workers that paid all employee health insurance premiums in 1980: 72
Percentage that do today: 48
3/91Percentage of American workers who are looking for a job, have given up looking, or can find only part-time work: 12.7
3/91Ratio of the number of unemployed white-collar workers to the number of unemployed blue-collar workers: 1:1
6/91Number of U.S. city governments that have extended employee health benefits to unmarried “domestic partners”: 6
7/91Percentage change, since last year, in the number of Americans unemployed for longer than six months: +50
7/91Chances that an unemployed American is receiving unemployment-insurance benefits: 1 in 3
7/91Job and business inquiries made in March to the Commerce Department’s Persian Gulf Reconstruction Center: 434,000
8/91Chances that a worker anywhere in the world is employed by the travel and tourism industry: 1 in 15
9/91Total number of the U.S. government’s 3 million employees who were fired last year for poor performance: 290
11/92Percentage of the 417,000 jobs Bush says have been created this year that were government-financed summer jobs: 40
11/92Portion of the 267,000 jobs lost in California this year that were defense-related: 1/5
12/92Percentage change, since 1970, in the number of American women working more than one job: +390
2/92Number of jobs George Bush promised in 1988 to create by the end of his second term as president: 30,000,000
2/92Percentage of all employed black American men with a college degree who earned poverty-level wages in 1979: 9.5
Percentage today: 14.8
2/92Number of U.N. employees worldwide who are currently detained or imprisoned by their host countries: 48
5/92Applications requested this year from the San Francisco Municipal Railway for one graffiti-cleaning job: 15,000
5/92Percentage of U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who provide services to farmers: 21
8/92Percentage of French women who do not view being asked to undress for a job interview as sexual harassment: 20
9/92Percentage by which new Teamster president Ron Carey adjusted his salary after taking the job last February: -22
1/93Chances that a working American is self-employed: 1 in 13
10/93Portion of the 107,000 manufacturing jobs lost in California since 1987 that went to Mexico: 1/6
10/93Number of the 60 gardeners employed by the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas who are responsible for artificial plants: 12
11/93Ratio of the number of jobs created to jobs lost in U.S. communities where military bases have closed since 1961: 5:3
11/93Chances that an unemployed European has not worked in more than a year: 1 in 2
Chances that an unemployed American has not worked in more than a year: 1 in 9
12/93Percentage of South African workers who are unemployed: 47
3/93Ratio of the number of Americans employed by government to those employed by manufacturers: 1:1
7/93Number of doctors invited to apply for a staff-physician job at a Georgia women’s clinic since February: 3,000
Number who have responded: 1
7/93Number of beds at Massachusetts General Hospital, per billing-department employee: 3.5
7/93Number of presidentially appointed federal jobs that Bill Clinton had not filled after 100 days in office: 1,800
7/93Chances that an American who graduated college since 1980 holds a job that does not require a college degree: 1 in 5
7/93Average decrease in the number of minutes women spend on housekeeping for every hour spent at a paying job: 26
9/93Percentage change, since 1991, in the number of on-the-job sexual-harassment complaints filed with the E.E.O.C.: +51
9/93Number of former U.S. Trade Office employees hired by private companies since 1989 to lobby for NAFTA: 6
1/94Number of America’s ten largest industrial companies that have created new jobs since the end of the recession: 1
1/94Amount IBM will spend this year on parties for its top employees: $20,000,000
11/94Number of turkeys the United Parcel Service gives its employees each Thanksgiving: 267,600
12/94Rank of the local, state, and federal governments among the top three employers in Indianapolis: 1,2,3
12/94Number of weeks Danielle Steel employed a full-time gift-wrapper last year for her seven children’s birthdays: 7
2/94Number of parking tickets given to former Soviet embassy employees in Washington, D.C., that remain unpaid: 50,693
5/94Number of people employed in the creative department of Hallmark Cards: 670
6/94Number of government employees Vice President Gore invited to accompany him on his trip to Russia last December: 600
Number this was reduced to after Ambassador Thomas Pickering complained: 200
6/94Percentage of 15- to 24-year-old French workers who are unemployed: 24
6/94Ratio of the number of job inquiries received last year by the Peace Corps to the number of positions available: 33:1
7/94Chances that an employee of a U.S. physician in private practice receives employer-provided health insurance: 1 in 2
8/94Number of federal workers employed full-time this year to manage national-security documents: 32,397
8/94Rank of Kansas City, Missouri, among U.S. cities whose employed residents are least likely to call in sick: 1
9/94Percentage of the World Bank’s employees who work in Washington, D.C.: 95
10/95Number of Wal-Mart plastic owls a NASA employee bought last May to protect the space shuttle from woodpeckers: 6
10/95Ratio of the number of doctors currently employed by the Pentagon to the maximum number required during wartime: 2:1
10/95Change since 1979 in the median earnings of an American woman with a full-time job, in constant dollars: +$1,925
Change in the median earnings of an American man with a full-time job: -$2,816
10/95Chances that a federal job-training program keeps records of its clients’ placement rates: 1 in 2
12/95Percentage change since 1990 in hours of counseling required by L.A. police employees and their families: +96
12/95Attendance at a one-day job fair held in Newark, New Jersey, last August to fill 130 teaching positions: 1,400
12/95Chances that an unemployed American worker receives unemployment benefits: 1 in 3
12/95Number of French job-seekers whose resumes were printed on wine bottles by local vintners last spring: 1,000
3/95Number of years McDonald’s has been suing 2 unemployed Britons for distributing pamphlets calling its food “unhealthy”: 4
4/95Number of Veterans Administration employees whose salaries exceed $100,000 per year: 7,367
8/95Chances that a job in one of the ten largest industrialized countries is industrial: 1 in 4
Percentage change in the number employed by the federal government: +5
9/95Federal payments made last year to government employees who resigned as part of a downsizing program: $912,000,000
9/95Federal salaries paid last year to newly hired government employees: $780,689,202
9/95Average percentage change in the salary of an American who changed jobs during the last recession: -22
9/95Percentage change since 1973 in the number of full-time photographers employed by National Geographic: -87
10/96Maximum months of maternity leave Croatia’s new “family values” plan allows an employed, pregnant mother of two: 36
12/96Number of its employees the Library of Congress has forced to take psychological exams since 1990: 27
2/96Ratio of Steven P. Jobs earnings last year on the day his firm’s stock went public to Michael Milken’s 1987 earnings: 1:1
Ratio of Jobs’s average hourly earnings on that day to the U.S. minimum wage: 13,421,052:1
3/96Ratio of aerospace jobs lost in California last year to the number of new jobs in the film industry: 1:2
3/96Monthly salary at which Lech Walesa will resume his electrician job in the Gdansk shipyards this year: $200
3/96Chances that an employee of a pro basketball team is a player: 1 in 4
6/96Chances an American corporate executive admits to spying on employees’ e-mail: 1 in 3
7/96Chances that an American with a 1994 B.A. in journalism works in public relations, advertising, or is unemployed: 1 in 3
7/96Ratio of professional jobs available in Mexico in the 1980s to the number of Mexicans who graduated from college then: 1:4
1/97Ratio of the population of North Dakota to the total number of Americans employed by Wal-Mart: 1:1
1/97Average figure given by Americans when asked to estimate what percentage of the population is unemployed: 20.6
Percentage of Americans who are actually unemployed: 5.2
12/97Percentage change since 1970 in the number of Americans employed by U.S. toy manufacturers: -40
5/97Rank of Food Lion among U.S. employers that have paid the largest fines for overtime- and minimum-wage violations: 1
5/97Rank of the Manpower temporary agency among U.S. companies employing the largest number of workers: 1
5/97Chance that a U.S. psychotherapist has a second job: 1 in 3
6/97Number of Americans employed domestically by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations: 4,900,000
6/97Hourly fee paid the “ethics adviser” employed by Kenneth Starr during his first 19 months as Special Prosecutor: $400
10/98Number of “ Assault Recovery ” insurance policies sold to school employees in the last year: 207
10/98Rank of General Motors, among the largest private employers in Mexico: 1
12/98Amount the U.S. Energy Department plans to spend by 2000 to keep Russian nuclear scientists employed: $40,000,000
12/98Rank of “office too hot” among white-collar employees’ most common workplace complaints: 2
Rank of “office too cold”: 1
2/98Number of years that Julia Child was employed by a U.S. intelligence agency: 3
6/98Ratio of California prison jobs created between 1984 and 1994 to state jobs in higher education cut during that time: 3:1
7/98Chance that a New Yorker cut from state welfare rolls in 1997’s first quarter was employed within 3 months: 1 in 3
1/99Chances that a Disney World employee is unionized: 2 in 5
1/99Rank of Disney World, among the country’s largest single-site employers: 1
4/99Settlement paid 3 female federal inmates last year after guards sold them as sex slaves to male prisoners: $500,000
4/99Number of times a Florida Fox-TV station asked 2 reporters to rewrite a news story on Monsanto in 1997: 83
Amount the station offered the reporters to quit their jobs and keep silent after the news story was killed: $151,250
5/99Chance that a mother of dependent children depicted on a prime-time network TV show holds a paying job: 1 in 3
6/99Chance that a U.N. peacekeeper killed on the job since 1948 died as a result of combat or other hostilities: 1 in 3
8/99Year in which George W. Bush first described juvenile “superpredators” as “fatherless, jobless, fearless, and godless”: 1996
1/00Number of Americans now employed as “ serfs ” or “wenches” at Medieval Times entertainment complexes in the U.S.: 1,400
11/00Percentage of U.S. public school teachers who hold a second job: 59
11/00Amount the Centers for Disease Control has spent redecorating a stairwell to encourage obese employees to walk: $14,900
12/00Ratio of the monthly salary the U.N. pays its native clerks in East Timor to what it pays its other employees there: 1:5.6
2/00Chance that a drug user holds a full-time job, according to a federal study released last year: 7 in 10
Months after George W. Bush became a candidate last year that the study was released: 3
Chance that a U.S. police officer did: 1 in 4,613
7/00Amount the U.S. government spent on drug testing per employee who tested positive between 1997 and 1998: $35,222
8/00Percentage of public relations executives who say they have “had to lie ” in the course of their jobs: 25