Happy Mother’s Day!
Two items below.
Here’s a small sample of the many facts and statistics from a U.S Census Mother’s Day 2017 collection.
Background
Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother’s Day observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia, Pa., on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis became the driving force behind Mother’s Day and asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. 43.5 million
The number of mothers between the ages of 15 and 50 in 2014. These mothers gave birth to 95.8 million children. 3.98 million
The number of registered births in 2015, down less than 1 percent from 2014. Of this number, 229,715 were to teens ages 15 to 19. 5.0 million
The number of stay-at-home moms in married-couple family groups in 2016.
9.8 million
The number of single mothers living with children younger than age 18 in 2016, up from 7.7 million in 1985. 13,419
The number of florists nationwide in 2015. Since 2005, the number of florist establishments decreased from 21,135 to 13,419, a decline of 36.5 percent. The number of employees in floral shops also declined from 101,861 to 60,076 employees in 2015, a decline of 41.0 percent.
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $5 billion on jewelry (purchased by 36 percent of shoppers), $4.2 billion on special outings such as dinner or brunch (56 percent), $2.6 billion on flowers (69 percent), $2.5 billion on gift cards (45 percent), $2.1 billion on clothing (37 percent), $2 billion on consumer electronics (15 percent) and $1.9 billion on personal services such as a spa day (24 percent).
The overall increase is expected to be driven largely by spending on jewelry, which is up 19 percent, and personal services, up 15 percent. Source: National Retail Federation
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
