Trivial Pursuit V

Welcome to another edition of trivial pursuit via The City Wire — an irregular feature meant to provide info that is likely entertaining and only accidentally informative in a useful manner. Enjoy.

WIRELESS ECONOMY
The CTIA-The Wireless Association recently filed a report with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) touting the economic benefits the wireless communication sector has made to the national economy in past years.

According to the CTIA, the industry has:
• Contributed almost $100 billion in "value added" contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2007;
• Added more than 268,000 direct employees and more than 2.4 million American jobs that are either directly or indirectly dependent;
• Boosted salaries because production pay in the wireless sector is more than 50% higher than the national average of other production workers; and
• Invested $22.8 billion per year on average to upgrade networks.

BEER ECONOMY
Research and Markets is reporting that the beer market among the top 8 global industrialized nations (G8) grew by 1.2% between 2004 and 2007. The G8 countries are United States, Canada, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and Japan.

In 2013, the market is forecast to have a value of $270.2 billion, an increase of 0.4% from 2008, according to the report. The U.S. is the world’s largest market and generates 30% of global revenues.

YOUTH ONLINE
A new study from Nielsen Online found that nearly 16 million U.S. children ages 2 to 11 were online in May — a rate faster than their parents and older siblings.

The Nielsen survey found that the 2-11 age group is about 9.5% of Internet users. Other Nielsen findings include:
• In the past five years the number of kids online has grown by 18%, compared with just a 10% growth among all Internet users.
• The time children spend online grew 63% in the past five years, from nearly 7 hours in May 2004 to more than 11 hours online this past May.
• Boys spent 7% more time online than girls, but girls viewed 9% more Web pages than boys did in May 2009.

LONG-TERM CONCERNS
A new survey released July 8 by Lake Research Partners and The SCAN Foundation suggests almost 80% of people are more likely to support a health care reform proposal that improves coverage for long-term care services for seniors.

The main findings of the report include:
• Most Americans (79%) are concerned about their ability to pay for long-term care for themselves or a family member in the future, with nearly half (46%) feeling very concerned.
• A clear majority (92%) of people say it is important to improve coverage for services that help people remain in their home instead of going into a nursing home.
• Nearly eight in ten Americans (78%) say health care reform would benefit them personally if it included improved coverage for home and community-based long-term care services

SHORT-TERM CONCERNS
At least 40% of salary budgets are frozen for corporate officers/executives according the 36th annual WorldatWork budget survey.

Also, at 2.2%, the 2009 increase is the smallest in the survey’s history and 1.7% below the 3.9% projected in the previous year’s report.

“The WorldatWork survey, the largest of its kind, clearly shows that the economic crisis continues to put pressure on worker salaries, though projections for 2010 suggest improvement,” according to the survey statement. “A projected salary budget increase of 2.8 percent for 2010 indicates we may have touched the bottom this year and a turnaround may be on the horizon”

ELECTRIC AVENUE
Pike Research suggests 1.7 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will be on global roadways by 2015.

“PHEV programs will focus initially on the small car segment, which will represent 80% of sales in 2015,” industry analyst Dave Hurst said in a statement. “followed by the small SUV segment with 10% of the market.”

The Pike report says the U.S. will be the leading market for PHEVs, with more than 610,000 vehicles sold over the next five years. China will be a close second with a little more than 540,000 PHEVs sold during the same period.

SPORTS STUFF
According to The NPD Group Inc., worldwide sales of sports equipment, apparel, and footwear sales were $284 billion  in 2008, down from a 4% increase the previous year.

The NPD report found an overall decline of 1% in all of the Americas (North, Central, and South) that was driven primarily by the 2% decline in the United States during 2008. Sales in Europe were down 1%, but sales in Asia were up 4% and sales in the Middle East/Africa were up 7%.