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Small and medium businesses in India are on track to spend US$291 million on security-related investments in 2009—according to a study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

Consumers are cutting back on expenses and shopping around for the best places to save money, according to survey results released by Ally Bank. The survey showed a significant number (77 percent) of consumers have sacrificed discretionary purchases, including vacations, cars, clothing, dining out and entertainment to increase savings, and nearly half (47 percent) have shopped around for a better place to save their money this year.

While about 70 percent of workers in private industry had access to employer provided medical care benefits in March 2009, only 25 percent of the lowest wage earners - those with average hourly wages in the lowest 10 percent of all private industry wages - had such access, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. By contrast, nearly all workers with hourly wages in the highest 10 percent of all private industry wages had access to medical care benefits. A worker with access to medical care benefits is defined as having an employer-provided medical plan available for use, regardless of the worker’s decision to enroll or participate in the plan.

According to a new market research report, "Global Baby Food Market (2009-2014)", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global baby food market is expected to be worth US$37.6 billion by 2014, recording an estimated CAGR of 5.0% from 2009 to 2014. The North American market is expected to account for nearly 37% of the total revenues.

PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions, a division of UBM Global Trade, has released trade statistics that gauge the recession's impact on the top U.S. import commodity by volume, furniture. In first-quarter 2009, inbound containerized shipments of furniture fell more than 87,000 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent units, the basic unit of container measure), for a 19.2% decline compared with the same period a year ago.

One of the hotly contested issues in the debate about health care reform is whether or not there should be a new government health plan to compete with the plans offered by the insurance industry to employers and individuals. This idea is strongly supported by President Obama and most Democratic members of Congress but Republican members of Congress unanimously oppose it.

Four out of five Europeans say that they consider the environmental impact of the products they buy reveals a Eurobarometer survey published today. Environmental consideration was highest in Greece where more than 9 in 10 of those surveyed said the impact of a product on the environment plays an important aspect in their purchasing decisions.

In 2008, the average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union remained unchanged at 38.6 hours, according to the annual update on working time developments from Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU Agency. The report, which looks at working time agreements set by collective bargaining, also found that the average paid annual leave entitlement for workers in Europe was 25.2 days across the EU in 2008; however, some countries had up to three weeks’ more holidays than others.

The future of e-commerce is "social commerce" as online shoppers, particularly younger generations, are heavily influenced by social media and Web 2.0 technologies, according to a new "Future of Commerce" report from Hill & Knowlton.

As politicians and policymakers debate how to structure and pay for clinical prevention and chronic disease services within new models of care - both at the work site or through new delivery systems - many are looking to mature employer-based health management programs as models. A new, in-depth survey of employers into the use of incentives in corporate wellness programs shows that smart investments in employee health programs are yielding results.