Inc. Data Bank, October 2011

What small business owners want out of retirement, how employees feel about work-life balance, what countries are driving global e-commerce sales, and other intriguing statistics.
By Andrew Shafer | Sep 27, 2011

Retirement

Share of small-business owners who plan to retire before 65: 25%

Portion who don't plan to ever retire: 17%

After retirement, small-business owners
would like to:

Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute

Work-Life Balance

Portion of employees who say they would lose their jobs if they adopted more flexible work schedules: 16%
(down from 28% in 2006)

When conflicts arise between work and family, employees typically blame:

2011 Work+Life Fit Survey; Elizabeth Poposki, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Global E-commerce

Portion of the world's Internet users who are Americans...

...in 1996: 66%

...in 2010: 14%

Amount spent in 2010 on American e-commerce sites by customers outside the U.S.: $10.1 billion

Increase in the number of Internet users in 2010, compared with 2009:

ComScore

Social Media

Share of small-business owners who say social media is important to their businesses: 66%


On average, the portion of a company's Facebook fans who read its status updates per day: 7.5%


Social Media Examiner; PageLever