Loose change

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 7, 2001

10,459: That's the number of jobs cut at dot-com companies in December. It was the seventh straight monthly increase and the most jobs shed in a month since Chicago job-placement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas started keeping track a year ago.

6,000: That's how many Internet job sites are in operation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says more than twice as many people look for work online than through private employment agencies.

1,789: That's the number of kidnappings for ransom reported worldwide in 1999, a record, according to the Hiscox Group, a specialty insurer in London. With business executive kidnappings on the rise, Hiscox says more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies carry ransom insurance.

2 in 5: That's how many employers said they were giving gifts to workers this holiday season, according to a Bureau of National Affairs survey.

$1,100: Each American household charged about that much this holiday season, according to American Express and credit card research company Cardweb.com. Shoppers typically take four months to pay off holiday debt.

$399-billion: Americans are expected to spend that amount dining out in 2001, according to the National Restaurant Association in Washington. That's 5.2 percent more than in 2000.

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