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The growth rate for small business employment continued rising in September, but at a slower rate than the revised growth rate for August. At the same time, hours worked and compensation remained essentially flat compared to last month. Those were among the findings included in the latest Intuit Inc. Small Business Employment Index.

ThomasNet’s newest Industry Market Barometer™ (IMB) shows North America’s industrial/manufacturing sector surging forward, accelerating the momentum of its recovery with the promise of further expansion to come. Several key indicators all demonstrate a sector that’s “caught on fire”—taking into account more company growth, fewer business declines, a resumption of hiring, a winding down of layoffs, and new investments.

Chrome ® Systems Inc., a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. and an industry leader in managing automotive data, announced the results of the 2010 Chrome Consumer Survey, which highlights significant shifts in the way consumers are researching and purchasing vehicles in 2010 compared to the previous year.

Feeling the squeeze of the economic downturn, three out of four 401(k) participants (72 percent) are likely not on track to meet retirement goals based on their current 401(k) balance, plan contributions, and projected Social Security, according to a new report by Financial Engines, America’s largest independent registered investment adviser. Of that 72 percent, Financial Engines projects that the typical participant will be able to replace only 45 percent of their pre-retirement income, compared to a 70 percent goal. On a positive note, however, the report showed that participants in plans with automatic enrollment and Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (QDIAs) are better off than those without.

comScore, Inc. released a report on mobile application and browser usage among Smartphone subscribers based on data from its comScore MobiLens service. The study found that the number of Smartphone users accessing mobile content through browsers and applications now surpasses that of Non-smartphone users. In the 3 month average ending August 2010, Smartphone subscribers made up 60 percent of those who used a downloaded application and 55 percent of those who used a browser. The study also described the demographic profile and top content categories for Smartphone subscribers accessing applications and browsers.

The annual growth rate of M3 increased to 1.1% in August 2010, from 0.2% in July 2010. The three-month average of the annual rates of change of M3 over the period June 2010 - August 2010 rose to 0.5%, from 0.1% in the period May 2010 - July 2010.

In August 2010 most of the average MFI interest rates on new deposits decreased, while the MFI interest rates on loans showed uneven developments. Average MFI interest rates on outstanding amounts of deposits and loans remained basically unchanged.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Mexico increased 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.3 percent in July.

The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.1% in August 2010, unchanged compared with July. It was 9.7% in August 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in August 2010, also unchanged compared with July. It was 9.2% in August 2009.

Online advertised vacancies rose 59,900 in September to 4,296,100 following a decrease of 57,100 in August, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Data Series. The gap between the number of unemployed and advertised vacancies (supply/demand rate) stood at 3.51 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in August (the last available unemployment data) but is down from its peak of 4.73 in October 2009.