And The Nation That 'Cannot Live Without The Internet' The Most Is...

Have you ever thought about what life would be like without the internet?

Given the volume of time people spend immersed in their smartphones, iPads and laptops, an unconnected life is pretty hard to imagine these days. For the majority of millennials, the time before the world wide web is now nothing more than a distant memory, a memory that"s been eviscerated by the ubiquity and life-changing impact of connected technology.

Interestingly, Statista"s Niall McCarthy notes that it isn"t just millennials who are losing touch with a world without smartphones, emails and social media. Research from Ipsos has found that society in general just can"t live without the internet.

You will find more statistics at Statista

18,180 people were surveyed across 23 countries, with more than two thirds of them saying they cannot imagine a life that isn’t prefixed by www dot.

While 73 percent of Americans said they cannot imagine an unnconnected life, the highest share was recorded in India at 82 percent.

Where The January Jobs Were

While in recent months, we had documented that job growth was mostly observed in lower, or minimum-wage paying, jobs, in January, when as the BLS earlier reported the US added some 227K jobs, the increase was uniform across virtually all job sectors, with only Government and Transportation and Warehousing jobs declining by 10,000 and 4,000, respectively. All other sectors saw an increase in employees.

The breakdown is as follows:

• Retail jobs rose by 46,000 in January, and by 229,000 in 2016. Three industries added jobs in January--clothing and clothing accessories stores (+18,000), electronics and appliance stores (+8,000), and furniture and home furnishings stores (+6,000). We find this surprising in light of the mass layoff announcements reported by retailers in recent months.


• Construction jobs rose by 36,000. Residential building added 9,000 jobs over the month, while residential specialty trade contractors added +11,000. Over the past 12 months, the US has added 170,000 jobs.


• Financial jobs rose by 32,000 jobs in January, with gains in real estate (+10,000), insurance carriers and related activities (+9,000), and credit intermediation and related activities (+9,000). Financial activities added an average of 15,000 jobs per month in 2016.


• Employment in professional and technical services rose by 23,000, in line with the average monthly gain in 2016. Over the month, job gains occurred in computer systems design and related services (+13,000).


• Food services and drinking places jobs - i.e., waiters and bartenders - continued to trend up in January (+30,000). This industry added 286,000 jobs over the past 12 months, and continues to


• Health care jobs added another +18,000 positions, following a gain of 41,000 in December. The industry has added 374,000 jobs over the past 12 months.


• Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, showed little change over the month.

And visually: