11.14.07
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American Workers Multi-Site Boom Big Mac vs. Big 10 Trust & Integrity Abortion & Cancer
Moms at Work Halloween Less Religious E-Shrink The Church Leaders Intelligence Report is compiled and edited by Gary D. Foster. He may be contacted by email.
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American Workers work longer hours than Europeans and those in most other rich nations, and they produce more per person per year. Other than Norwegians, they also get more done per hour, claims a U.N. report on international labor. The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, the most in the world. At $35.63 of wealth created per hour, the U.S. is 2nd only to Norway’s $37.99. U.S. employees averaged 1,804 hours of work in ’06 vs. Norway’s 1,407.1 and France’s 1,564.4. Seven Asian countries averaged more than 2,200 hours, but they had lower productivity rates. America’s increased productivity is due to the information and communication technologies revolution, the highly competitive way the U.S. organizes companies as well as the extension of trade and investment abroad.
In 1990, only 10 multi-site Protestant churches existed in the U.S. In ’07, 15% of all U.S. Protestant churches are seriously considering adding a site within the next 2 years. 47 of America’s 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches are multi-site. Six are multi-state, and one has a site in Peru. 
A Kelton research study found 80% of Americans knew “two all-beef patties” were among the ingredients of a Big Mac, while just 60% could identify “Thou shalt not kill” as one of the Ten Commandments. Just 34% recognized “Remember the Sabbath” and 29% recognized “Do not make any false idols” as commandments. 
Companies and ministries that don’t deliver trust risk destroying potential customer/constituent goodwill and, ultimately their businesses or ministries. Those that don’t uphold their promises and values undermine brand awareness and constituent loyalty. Marketers build trust in their products, services and organizations by establishing brands that consistently deliver what’s promised. That trust can be damaged—even destroyed—in short order if customers/constituents believe they have been deceived. Organizations seen as fundamentally honest and integrity-driven in good times and bad usually are allowed tremendous leeway when they need it—as well as permission to fail, as every organization will do from time to time. 
A Pew Research Center survey reports 56% of Americans say mothers are doing a worse job today than they did 20 or 30 years ago. Full-time work outside the home has lost some of its appeal to mothers; for both those who have such jobs and those who don’t. Among working mothers with children 17 and under, 21% say full-time work is the ideal situation for them, down from the 32% in ’97. 60% (up from 48% in ’97) of today’s working moms say part-time work would be their ideal, and 19% say they would prefer not working at all outside the home. In ’70, women contributed a median of 27% to their families’ income, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In ’04, the most recent data available, it had jumped to about 35%. The percentage of wives who earn more than their husbands has climbed from 17.8% in families where both spouses work to 25% in ’04. About 70% of women with children under 18 are in the labor force.
In ’06, American consumers spent $3.2 billion buying Halloween decorations, up over 21% from ’05. This makes Halloween second only to Christmas for holiday decorating. It’s not just Halloween. In ’06 about $5 billion of the industry’s $19.2 billion in retail sales were generated from fall decorations, including back-to-school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and harvest home seasonal decorations. Double-digit growth is expected again in ’07. 
An increasing number of people in America and around the world don’t believe in God. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found 20% of Americans ages 18 to 25 say they have no religious affiliation or consider themselves atheists or agnostics, nearly double the rate of 20 years ago. Another Pew survey in 3/07 concluded the nation is witnessing a “reversal of increased religiosity observed in the mid-1990s.” Today, 12% of Americans age 20 and older describe themselves as not religious, up from 8% in ’87. This change appears to be generational in nature, with each new generation displaying lower levels of religious commitment than the preceding one. One Harvard scientist says, “More and more of what used to be the domain of religion has been ceded to science. It’s the trend of modernity. I think this is a tide. We’ve seen it happen everywhere else in the developed world. This is the direction of history.” The number of campus groups affiliated with the Secular Student Alliance, for example, has increased by more than 50% in the past two years, to more than 80 groups. 
Fearfighter, a kind of psychiatric computer, is one of two programs endorsed by Britain’s health advisory watchdog for people with panic attacks, mild depression, or phobias. People uncomfortable with getting advice from a computer can still choose to see therapists, but the option of logging on for help is now available — and will be paid for by the government-run National Health Service. Though it cannot prescribe medicine, the computerized treatment is possible because people with phobias, from fear of spiders to fear of heights, tend to get the same basic therapy. The program asks patients to identify the personal triggers that set off their panic attacks. They’re told to be more observant of these red flags and to keep a diary of things they avoid because it makes them nervous. 
