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By The Numbers

This is absolutely the droid you’re looking for

Marketplace Staff Sep 4, 2015
$149.99

That’s the cost of a Miniature BB-8 Droid from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” merchandise. As part of a midnight release Friday, Disney stores were flooded with people trying to get a piece of the franchise, including the prized (and adorable) bot. As New York Magazine’s Vulture blog writes, multiple media outlets were given free droids as part of a feeding-of-the-media frenzy.

173,000

That’s how many jobs were added in August, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job creation has slowed moderately in 2015, but if you’re looking for a fuller picture of the employment situation in the U.S., there’s another important factor to consider: wages growth…or more importantly, the lack thereof.

80 percent

That’s how many bike-share users did not wear a helmet, compared with 55 percent of cyclists overall. Cities across the country have been adding similar programs, offering commuters the option of biking to work. But studies show that statistically, users of the bike share are much less likely to wear a helmet, and most programs don’t require them to do so. Seattle’s program, however, does require riders to wear a helmet by law. Though as the program has discovered, renting and cleaning helmets is expensive.

$5 billion

That’s how much a high-speed train between Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia would cost to build. On Thursday, the Indonesian government finally made a decision between the two contracts — one from China, one from Japan — that were being considered. The winner: no one. Reasoning that a medium-sized train would cost a fraction of the hefty price tag, the government opted out of springing for the high-tech, speedier option, as Quartz reports.

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