Menu

The January CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, which is designed to serve as a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, decreased by 2.62 percent through the month, after posting an increase of 1.54 in December; a 4 percent drop month over month.

According to results of Deloitte's annual "Look Before You Leap" survey of corporate executives, investment bankers, private equity executives and hedge fund managers, 63 percent of respondents reported that Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and anti-corruption issues caused their companies to renegotiate or pull out of planned business relationships, mergers or acquisitions over the last three years.

More than half of U.S. adults (54%) agree that finding a temporary job is the best option following a layoff, according to a new online survey commissioned by EmploymentGroup, a Midwest staffing and contracted services firm, and conducted by Harris Interactive®. The poll coincides with the latest Labor Department payrolls data that show U.S. employment rose far less than expected in January, suggesting continued weakness in the job market.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.0 percent in January, while nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+36,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Employment rose in manufacturing and in retail trade but was down in construction and in transportation and warehousing. Employment in most other major industries changed little over the month.

comScore, Inc.), a leader in measuring the digital world, released its Q4 2010 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached a record $43.4 billion for the quarter, up 11 percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the fifth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second quarter of double-digit growth rates in the past year.

The results of a new Harris Poll are something of a paradox. When asked separately about seven of the most important bills that were passed by the last Congress, including those passed in the very productive lame duck session in December, majorities of those who are familiar with them rate each of them "good" rather than "bad". The three most popular bills, rated "good" by the most people who are familiar with them, are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88%), the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%), and the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%).

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) increased in January for the fourth consecutive month. The index now stands at 100.5, up from December’s revised figure of 100.3. The index is up 7 percent from a year ago.

The largest and most comprehensive nationally-representative study of single men and women ever done dispels long-held beliefs about singles in America. Although there are 105 million singles in the United States, representing one-third of the US population, these women and men have gone largely unstudied - even as their attitudes and behaviors are shaping America's cultural norms and challenging traditional foundations. Based on this groundbreaking study, a new picture of single Americans emerges that is radically different than it was 50 years ago when the median age of first marriage for women was 20 and only 10% of women ages 25-29 were not married. The single today is defying gender and age stereotypes, adopting new dating habits, and changing the very definition of relationships.

Business intelligence (BI), collaboration, content management, social software and supply chain management will be the top application software growth segments in 2011, according to Gartner, Inc. This year, the focus will be on modernizing packaged application systems, enabling diverse user access through software as a service (SaaS) and cloud services, and driving revenue and innovation.

In December 2010 the average MFI interest rates on new deposits showed uneven developments. Most of the average MFI interest rates on new loans to households and non-financial corporations decreased or remained unchanged. Average MFI interest rates on outstanding amounts of deposits and loans remained basically unchanged.