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Twenty-one percent of employers expect to add full-time, permanent employees in the fourth quarter, according to the latest survey from CareerBuilder and USA TODAY. The October to December period is the fourth consecutive quarter where at least one-in-five employers planned to increase headcount. The survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive© from August 17 to September 2, 2010, included more than 2,400 hiring managers and human resource professionals and more than 3,100 workers across industries and company sizes.

The U.S. Monster Employment Index recorded its eighth consecutive month of positive year-over-year growth during September with a growth rate of 16 percent. This is an accelerated rate from the 12 percent in the previous month, but less than the peak of 21 percent seen during June and July. The Index rose two points (1 percent) in September as online job demand partially rebounded from the August levels.

Despite the Fed's recent proclamation that the "recession has ended," a new survey reveals employees and job seekers may not believe this claim due to continued layoffs and other cutbacks within many companies.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2010. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in the U.S. according to their share of current mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber’s primary mobile phone. The August report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 23.6 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 37.6 percent market share.

Euro area (EA16) and EU27 GDP increased by 1.0% during the second quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the first quarter of 2010, growth rates were +0.3% in the euro area and +0.4% in the EU27.

Real GDP in the OECD area increased by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2010 from the previous quarter, a stronger pace than previously estimated (0.7%). Gross fixed investment was the main contributor to the GDP increase, adding 0.4 percentage point to overall growth. The rise in investment was the first since early 2008, and the pace was the fastest since the first quarter of 2000.

Consumers’ views about the economy were unchanged from August to September, but the number of consumers feeling that their personal finances are getting worse rose for the sixth consecutive month and reached a nine-month high, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.

Smaller companies all too often endure severe financial problems due to the late payment of bills. For over a year the European Parliament has pushed to secure stricter and clear-cut rules on payment periods, including a general 30-day deadline. On Tuesday, the Internal Market Committee voted to endorse the deal struck with Council on 13 September.

A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 1.6% in the year to August 2010, the same inflation rate as in July. Growth in energy prices slowed down to 4.8% in August compared with 6.2% in July, while consumer prices for food rose by 1.4% compared with 1.1% in July.