Louisiana is the worst state for women according to new report

A new study finds Louisiana is the most challenging state for working women in America. (AFP)

A report says that in America, Louisiana is the worst state for women to live and work in.

The Center for American Progress released the findings in a new interactive map, combining and comparing data on topics including the wage gap between men and women, poverty rates, paid family leave laws, the percentage of women without health insurance in each state and infant mortality rates.

Interestingly, the data also expanded to include factors outside of income and personal health, looking at how women fare in positions of power. For example, the study also compared the percentage of women in Congress in each state and the number of women elected to statewide executive office.

Overall, the study contained 36 separate factors, including looking at how several of the above-mentioned categories applied to minorities.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Maryland was voted as the best state for women to live and work in.

“More than 22 percent of women in Louisiana are in poverty, compared to 11 percent of women in Maryland,” reads the report’s summary. “Additionally, taking in all of the leadership factors considered, Maryland ranks first in the nation in terms of women reaching leadership positions in the public and private sector. Meanwhile, Louisiana receives a D- on overall leadership factors.”

Looking at some other states in the survey, Hawaii, Vermont, California and Delaware rounded out the top five states for women.

Meanwhile, Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi rounded out the bottom five.

West Virginia ended up right in the middle of the survey, ranking 25th overall.

The rankings show a diverse mix that may present some surprises for political and cultural analysts. For example, both the top and bottom tiers contain a mix of states both on the population and geographic scales. There’s also a fair amount of political diversity in the findings. For example, Alaska is considered one of the nation’s most conservative states but placed just outside the top 10 in the survey, at number 11.

Back in June, a similar study was released looking at the best and worst states for children. In that study, New Mexico was cited as the worst state for children’s issues while New Hampshire was named the best state to raise a child. In that study, Louisiana was rated the fourth worst state for children.

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Up to 80% of the time spent online at work is ' wasted, ' according to study

Almost 80 percent work hours spent online are wasted on quote "cyberloafing" (AFP) are you're reading this article when it is supposed to work.

A new study from Kansas State University suggests that we spend even more time than previously thought browsing aimlessly on the Internet during office hours.
"Cyberloafing" — wasting time at work online — takes as much as 80% of the time people spend online at work, according to data collected by Joseph Urgin-minefield, an Assistant Professor at Kansas State and John Pearson, associate professor at Southern Illinois University.
The results were published in the latest issue of the journal computers in human behavior.
Their findings also suggest that the traditional guidelines surrounding the use of the Internet is not sufficient to police worker behavior, and that if companies really want to downsize the amount their employees time browsing on the Web, they must "constantly apply" sanctions to support their policies cyberloafing.
"We found that for young people, it was hard to get them to think that social networking was unacceptable behavior," said Ugrin. "Just have a policy in place will not change their attitudes or behavior at all. Even when they knew that were monitored, they still didn't care. "
Then again, not necessarily all "cyberloafing" can be measured as a net loss for businesses. 2011 study found that in certain fields, when people spend time casually browsing the Web at work, actually end up being more productive and creative.
The risks for employers go beyond lost productivity. Ugrin and Pearson point out that also poses risks cyberloafing lawyers for companies if their employees are engaged in activities such as viewing pornography or participate in illegal transactions.
Ugrin and Pearson found that waste of time was spent in almost equal measure among the different age groups but that generational differences have been expressed in various ways in which people specifically wasting their time.
"Older people are doing things like managing their finances, while young people are much more acceptable to spend time on social networking sites like Facebook," said Ugrin.
And while the study authors approve tougher sanctions to enforce the conduct of employee and productivity, say employers must maintain a healthy balance so as not to negatively affect Office morale.
"People feel like big brother is watching them, so companies need to be careful when you take these kinds of actions," said Ugrin.

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