Here’s Why Your Breakfast Just Got Way More Expensive

Here’s Why Your Breakfast Just Got Way More Expensive

Eggs
Flickr/pietro izzo
By Beth Braverman

You’re going to have to start shelling out a lot more for your eggs.

U.S. farmers in 20 states have killed more than 40 million chickens and turkeys since December, including about a third of the commercial, egg-laying birds in Iowa, as the United States experiences its biggest-ever bird flu outbreak.

The diminishing poultry population has led to an egg supply crunch, pushing prices some 85 percent higher, according to The Wall Street Journal. Economists say prices could spike another 20 to 30 percent.

The outbreak comes just as eggs are returning to favor with consumers after years of fighting perceptions that they’re unhealthy. In 2013, Americans consumers munched on more than 250 eggs per capita, the highest rate in six years.

Related: Minnesotans in contact with avian flu birds getting preventive drugs

Last year, the U.S. poultry industry produced nearly 100 billion eggs. USDA associate deputy administrator Jack Shere told the Associated Press that the avian flu could cost the U.S. taxpayers about $400 million this year.

Big Food companies are already considering changes to their menus and their pricing following the shortage. McDonald’s, Panera Bread, and General Mills, The New York Times reports.

The last serious avian flu outbreak in the United States occurred in 1983 and led to the killing of 17 million chickens, turkey, and guinea fowl in Pennsylvania and Virginia. While avian flu spread to humans in Asia in 2003, the Centers for Disease Control considers the risk to people from the current strain to be low. 

The 3 Big Reasons You’re Getting Nothing Done at Work

iStockphoto
By Beth Braverman

Cell phones often get blamed for the always-on work culture that keeps us tethered to our jobs around the clock.

Turns out they might be the reason we’re not getting our work done during office hours in the first place. More than half of employers say that cell phones and texting are the biggest productivity killers at work, making them the number one distraction, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.com.

Other top productivity killers included the Internet, named by 44 percent of employers, gossip (37 percent), and social media (37 percent).

Related: 10 Ways to Boost Happiness at Work

“There are so many stimulants in today’s workplace, it’s easy to see how employees get sidetracked,” Rosemary Haefner, Career Builder’s Chief Human Resources Officer said in a statement “The good news is, taking breaks from work throughout the day can actually be good for productivity, enabling the mind to take a break from the job at hand and re-energize you.”

Nearly half of employers said that such distractions compromised the quality of work, and 30 percent said they caused lower morale since other workers had to pick up slack for their preoccupied peers. A quarter of employers said that distractions hurt the boss/employee relationship.

Nearly 3 in 4 employers have been proactive about battling productivity killers, with a third blocking certain Internet sites and 23 percent banning personal cell phone calls and usage on the job.

Haefner recommends that workers stay focused by scheduling breaks, surrounding themselves with productive people and taking walks to rejuvenate the brain. 

3 Big Reasons You’re Getting Nothing Done at Work

iStockphoto/The Fiscal Times
By Beth Braverman

Cell phones often get blamed for the always-on work culture that keeps us tethered to our jobs around the clock.

Turns out they might be the reason we’re not getting our work done during office hours in the first place. More than half of employers say that cell phones and texting are the biggest productivity killers at work, making them the number one distraction, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.com.

Other top productivity killers included the Internet, named by 44 percent of employers, gossip (37 percent), and social media (37 percent).

Related: 10 Ways to Boost Happiness at Work

“There are so many stimulants in today’s workplace, it’s easy to see how employees get sidetracked,” Rosemary Haefner, Career Builder’s Chief Human Resources Officer said in a statement “The good news is, taking breaks from work throughout the day can actually be good for productivity, enabling the mind to take a break from the job at hand and re-energize you.”

Nearly half of employers said that such distractions compromised the quality of work, and 30 percent said they caused lower morale since other workers had to pick up slack for their preoccupied peers. A quarter of employers said that distractions hurt the boss/employee relationship.

Nearly 3 in 4 employers have been proactive about battling productivity killers, with a third blocking certain Internet sites and 23 percent banning personal cell phone calls and usage on the job.

Haefner recommends that workers stay focused by scheduling breaks, surrounding themselves with productive people and taking walks to rejuvenate the brain.

Now 16-Year-Olds Can Double Your Car Insurance

iStockphoto
By Beth Braverman

As if you don’t have enough to worry about when your 16-year-old hits the road for the first time, get ready to see your insurance bill nearly double.

The average insurance premium for a married couple goes up 80 percent on average when adding a teen, but it spikes a full 16 percent more for adding a 16-year-old, according to a new report by InsuranceQuotes.com.

Requesting a “good student” discount is one way to offset the premium hike. “I’ve seen discounts as high as 25 percent for students who maintain at least a B average in high school or college,” InsuranceQuotes.com senior analyst Laura Adams said in a statement.

Related: The Best Time to Buy Car Insurance

And once a teen hits the ripe old age of 19, insurance increases by just 60 percent.

It’s much more expensive to insure teenage boys, with premiums increasing 92 percent for teen males versus just 67 percent for girls.

The analysis found that teenagers cost the most to insure in New Hampshire (115 percent increase), but parents will also see premiums double in Wyoming, Illinois, Maine and Rhode Island.

Hawaii is the only state that prohibits insurance companies from basing insurance quotes on age or length of driving experience, so it has the lowest increase in the nation (17 percent). Other states where parents won’t take as big a hit are New York (53 percent) and Michigan (57 percent).

Parents may be able to nab better car insurance rates by shopping around with several insurers.

Thinking Ahead Could Be Holding Women Back

iStockphoto
By Millie Dent

Different attitudes in how men and women prepare for their futures might be a factor contributing to the gender gap, a new study published in Gender & Society finds.

In imagining their work paths, women were disproportionately more likely to think and worry about parenthood than men. And in anticipation of the responsibilities and challenges that parenthood brings, women were more likely than men to downscale or alter their career goals.   

Brooke Conroy Bass, who wrote the article, conducted in-depth interviews with 30 heterosexual couples between 25 and 34 who have not (yet) had children.

Related: Millennial Women Are Taking Charge – at Home and at Work 

Preparing for the future has emotional and behavioral consequences for women that men don’t suffer as much from, she found. Because of these “gendered anticipations of parenthood,” the inequality in the market starts much earlier than we tend to think.

Bass told Futurity that career trajectories among men and women shift as parenthood approaches, with men investing more effort in their jobs and women dialing back.

The study suggests that part of the problem contributing to the gender wage gap, penalization for maternity leave and the difficulty of making it to the top is anticipating the future. 

But should women be penalized for displaying foresight, a characteristic that employers usually value?  

American Kids Aren’t Such Stoners After All

Illinois Senate approves marijuana for medical uses
Reuters
By Millie Dent

Turns out the young people of America are not as high as you thought they were. The use of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco among young people has been falling, according to new data.

While the nationwide rate of illicit drug use has gone up, the percentage of youths using illicit drugs has declined, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMSHA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants or prescription-type psychotherapeutics.

Among youths aged 12 to 17, the rate of illicit drug use was down to 8.8 percent in 2013 from 9.5 to 11.6 percent in the years 2002 to 2007, the SAMSHA study said. 

Related: New Lifetime Estimate of Obesity Costs: $92,235 Per Person​

But in 2013, drug use among those 12 or older was up to 9.4 percent from the 7.9 to 8.7 percent found between 2002 and 2009. The rise was attributed to increased rates of marijuana use, both medical and nonmedical, among adults aged 26 and older  and that rise probably doesn't fully reflect the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

The report also suggested that alcohol is losing some of its allure for the young.

Between 2002 and 2013, the percentage of underage people who drank declined from 28.8 percent to 22.7 percent. In addition, the proportion of binge drinkers — those who consumed five or more drinks during one occasion — decreased from 19.3 percent to 14.2 percent in the same years.

In additional good news, tobacco and cigarette use among all age groups has declined sharply since 2002.