You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
$1.375 billion
Congressional negotiators have agreed “in principle” on a deal to avoid another partial federal government shutdown. The deal would provide $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border — fractions of the $5.7 billion and more than 200 miles of wall that President Trump demanded. Trump needs to sign off on the deal before it is approved. [The New York Times]
7.3 million job openings
In the 18 years that the Labor Department has kept such records, employers have never posted more open jobs than they did in December 2018 — 7.3 million. That’s evidence that the job market is strong. The number of openings was also larger than the number of unemployed Americans in December, which was 6.3 million. [CNBC]
59 percent versus 7 percent
A research team recently pored over nearly 900 papers published in the journal Theoretical Population Biology. In papers from the 1970s, a pivotal time for the field, they found that 7 percent listed a woman as an author, whereas 59 percent acknowledged a woman as a programmer somewhere in the paper. This suggests, writes The Atlantic, that women “became literal footnotes in scientific history, despite helping make that history.” [The Atlantic]
40 out of 100
Per a study from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, big movies in 2018 were more diverse than ever before, featuring more women and people of color in leading roles. Women led or co-led 40 of the 100 top-grossing movies, and people from “an underrepresented racial or ethnic group” led or co-led 28 of those movies. Nevertheless, these record numbers still fall short of representing the population as a whole. [Associated Press]
56 percent versus 33 percent
A new Washington Post-Schar School poll found that, by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent, Americans trust Robert Mueller’s version of the facts more than President Trump’s. (Not surprisingly, this breakdown was 86 to 10 for Democrats, and 17 to 74 for Republicans.) Eighty-one percent believed that Mueller’s report should be released to the public in its entirety. [The Washington Post]
350-pound tiger
A person in Houston entered an abandoned home to smoke marijuana. Once inside, they found a 350-pound tiger in a small, flimsy cage along with several packages of meat. The concerned citizen called 311 and, presumably, flipped the hell out. The tiger was tranquilized and taken to an animal shelter. [KTRK Houston]
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From ABC News: