Our Times Tally, Volume 31 – August 2015

● Average number of working hours per week in Greece: 41.9
● Average number of working hours per week in Germany: 35.3
● Rank of Greece in having the highest number of working hours per week in the European Union: 1
● Percentage of total global wealth owned by the 85 richest individuals in the world: 0.7
● Percentage of total global wealth owned by the poorest half of the world’s population: 0.7
● Percentage of all income gains in the United States that have gone to the richest 1%, since 2009: 95
● Percentage of all income gains in Sweden that have gone to the richest 1%, from 1975 to 2007: 9
● Number of people throughout the world who are officially unemployed: 202 million
● Global unemployment rate, according to these “official” statistics: 6.1
● Number of people throughout the world working in jobs classified as “vulnerable”: 1.5 billion
● Percentage of all Canadian direct investment overseas that went to tax havens in 1987: 10
● Percentage in 2011: 24
● Estimated amount of government revenue lost in Canada each year to tax havens: $7.8 billion
● Estimated annual cost of maintaining a national, $15-a-day child care program across Canada: $8.3 billion
● Current average monthly cost of child care in Toronto: $1,676
● Share of world labour income as a percentage of global gross output in 1980: 62
● Share today: 54
● Percentage of countries throughout the world where workers have a legal right to strike: 30
● Number of Canadians who live in “food insecure households,” according to a United Nations report: 1.92 million
● Days after the report was released that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney called it “completely ridiculous”: 1
● Percentage of American citizens who admit to struggling to afford food during the past twelve months: 24
● Percentage of Danish citizens who admit this: 6
● Percentage of citizens in rich countries who believe that the gap between the rich and poor will grow: 80
● Percentage who believe it will decline: 3
● Amount a U.S. company is suing the Canadian government for over Quebec’s banning of hydraulic fracking: $250 million
● Minimum number of free trade agreement lawsuits around the world put forth by corporations against governments: 500
● Of the 35 lawsuits brought against the Canadian government through the NAFTA, number that are still pending: 11
● Average percentage increase in wages for unionized workers in Canada in 2013: 1.4
● Latest year this annual increase in wages was lower: 1997
● Chance that a working Canadian didn’t contribute anything to retirement savings in 2014: 3 in 5
● Percentage of Albertan citizens who support increasing corporate taxation: 69
● Chance that a penalty levied by a provincial financial securities regulator in Canada has gone unpaid: 2 in 3
● Percentage of American citizens who believe that world leaders should “act immediately to stop climate change”: 46
● Percentage of Chinese citizens who believe this: 72
● Annual savings to Canadians from the establishment of a national pharmacare drug program: $11.4 billion
● Percentage amount that water consumption is expected to outstrip supply in the year 2030: 40
● Rank of “animal extinction” as the most important issue to Canadian kids aged 8 to 11: 1
● Percentage of Canadians who admit to have never heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement: 75
● Amount of money the federal government paid a financial consultant to help cut government spending: $19.8 million
● Number of eligible voters in Canada who didn’t vote in the 2011 federal election: 9,434,184

Our Times Tally is written by union communications and media consultant Sean Cain (www.labourmedia.org).

SOURCES: 41.9, 35.3, 1 – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2014); 0.7, 0.7 – Oxfam International (Working for the Few, January 2014); 95 – Emmanuel Saez (The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States, January 2015); 9 – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (World Top Income Database); 202 million, 6.1, 1.5 billion – International Labor Organization (Global Employment Trends, 2014); 10, 24 – Statistics Canada; $7.8 billion – Canadians for Tax Fairness; $8.3 billion – Global News (October 2014); $1,676 – Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (The Parent Trap, November 2014); 62, 54 – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Trade and Development Report, 2013); 30 – International Trade Union Confederation (Global Rights Index); 1.92 million – United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (May 2012); 1 – Globe and Mail (May 16, 2012); 24, 6, 80, 3 – Pew Research Center (May 2013); $250 million – CBC News (September 2014); 500 – Ilana Solomon (Sierra Club, Responsible Trade Program); 11 – Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada; 1.4, 1997 – Canadian Federal Labour Program; 3 in 5 – Ipsos Reid Poll (February 2015); 69 – Alberta Government Budget Survey; 2 in 3 – CBC News (June 2012); 46, 72 – International Trade Union Confederation (Frontlines Poll, June 2015); $11.4 billion – Mowat Centre (Unfilled Prescriptions: The Drug Coverage Gap in Canada’s Health Care Systems, June 2015); 40 – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (World Water Report, 2015); 1 – Ipsos Reid Poll (April 2015); 75 – Environics Research Group Poll (June 2015); $19.8 million – Globe and Mail (September 2012); 9,434,184 – Elections Canada.