This column initially ran about 18 months ago. Most things haven’t changed, but look at the unemployment rate in Chesterfield. We were not doing too badly at the time; our rate now stands at 6.5 percent. But, I believe we are seeing a light shining bright at the end of the tunnel. Hold on tight; good times are just around the corner.

This time every year, statistics are compiled and published by anyone and everyone who ever collected a bit of data. Stuff like: The age most people stop believing in Santa Claus is 8; the salary of the average pro wrestler is $47,500 a year; the number of things that annoy Andy Rooney is 2 million; the number of people annoyed by Andy Rooney is 23 million; the average miles per gallon you can expect if a carmaker’s ad says “30 mpg, city” is 23; 1,524 drivers threw 22,143 cigarette butts from their car window into my front yard in 2008; and the number of people who read the Village News last year is equal to the number of emperor penguins on Fuji divided by the times Ernest Hemingway almost poked his eye out with a swizzle stick.

Disclaimer: These statistics may or may not be true.

We all love statistics, though, and they can help us add some perspective to straight-up newspaper prose. At a time when we have fewer opportunities to read news, we find ourselves scanning the pages, honing in on the graphs and little blocks of statistics and making our own judgments about the nature of the issues.

One disturbing statistic is the number of daily newspapers that are in financial straits in the U.S. According to a quote pulled from Fortune Magazine, “The Christian Science Monitor eliminates its print edition, Tribune Co. declares bankruptcy, Detroit’s two dailies slash home delivery to three days a week.” According to the website ContentBridges.com, only about half of the nation’s top 50 daily newspapers are profitable. And many of us are familiar with the misfortunes of our own area daily newspaper. Its parent company, Media General, reported its sales were down 17 percent in 2008.

There is an amazing number of statistics out there for Chesterfield, some interesting, some alarming and some just plain boring. For instance, per the last census, there are more people ages 40-44 in Chesterfield than any other age group: 24,190. It makes sense that the fourth-highest age demographic is children ages 10-14: 22,100. The population of Chesterfield projected for 2030 is over twice what it was in 1990: 430,000. And unemployment in Chesterfield was 3.9 percent in October, more than 2 percent less than the national average of 6.1 percent. I’m sure most of us consider ourselves lucky.

The most alarming and probably most expected statistic in Chesterfield: The occupation type with the highest unemployment rate as of December 2008 is, of course, construction workers. That rate stands at 12 percent.

You tell me if this one is boring or alarming: The top two employers in Chesterfield County are the Chesterfield County School Board and Chesterfield County Administration, respectively, putting the number of people employed by local government at 13,656, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Had enough statistics? Oh, you can handle another couple of paragraphs. These are the really interesting ones anyway.

A lot of the data being published right now relates directly to the economy. According to numbers published by Atlantic magazine this month, the number of people living below the poverty level in the U.S. has increased 20 percent since 2000, which reinforces surveys that indicate that 45.7 million people in the nation are without health insurance. No job, no insurance is typically the case, but there’s a greater issue. The cost of health insurance has doubled in the last eight years. In 2000, a family health insurance premium for one year ran about $6,438 on average. Today the same family would pay $12,680. And even if your company covers your health insurance, the money has to come from somewhere.

It’s one of the reasons GM asked for the government loan.

We are likely to see more folks without health insurance in the near future, because the good jobs with the good benefits have often been manufacturing positions. But, look at the slide in manufacturing in this country since 2000. Employment growth in the manufacturing sector was 2.9 percent eight years ago. It now stands at negative 22.2 percent.

While personal income is down and costs are up, some of us aren’t doing too bad. The billionaires’ club has grown. Just 96 months ago, there were 298 billionaires in the U.S.; now there are 454 – a 75 percent increase. While the iPod, iPhone and the iDon’t Care have increased the value of Apple some 596 percent, what’s really important to me is that the number of cigarette butts that are flicked into my yard continues to increase every year, especially around the sign I posted that says “Don’t park your butt in my yard, please.”