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The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new study which shows that the widely employed estimate of 47 million uninsured Americans is a misleading representation of the problem. The study, authored by Drs. June and David O'Neill of Baruch College and City University of New York, shows that more than 43 percent, or 16 million, of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 could likely afford health coverage and are actually "voluntarily uninsured."

Some five percent of workers in the 27 EU Member States and Norway carry out undeclared work, seriously affecting public finances by tax and social contributions, according to a new report from Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU Agency.

Even with the end of a nine-month drought in initial public offerings (IPOs), the second quarter was one of the worst for venture capital-backed liquidity since the doldrums of early 2003, according to leading industry tracker Dow Jones VentureSource. Overall venture-backed liquidity fell 57% from $6.48 billion in the second quarter of 2008 to $2.8 billion in the most recent quarter.

The direct and indirect effect of child hunger in the U.S. is a contributing factor to the nation's economic woes and puts America at a competitive disadvantage, according to a new report issued today by Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization.

In spite of economic uncertainties, many of the nation’s largest retailers held onto their coveted spots at the top of the retail ladder last year, according to an annual ranking of retailers by sales. The STORES Top 100 Retailers*, featured in the July issue of STORES magazine, ranks retailers by annual revenues as reported in SEC filings, public statements by the companies and estimates based on Planet Retail research.

Slovenia has achieved a significant economic catch-up toward the OECD average GDP per capita without creating any major imbalances. This catch up has been set back by the financial turmoil, which poses immediate challenges to economic policy to support the financial sector and economic activity in general. Beyond the crisis, the main goal for policymakers must be to restore sustainable growth within the euro area.

Most employers expect their staff levels to remain the same as recruiting patterns hold steady and job losses trend downward, according to CareerBuilder and USA TODAY's Q3 2009 Job Forecast. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive(R) from May 22 through June 10, 2009 among more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

As of today, sending a text message from abroad in the EU costs a maximum €0.11, almost three times cheaper than the previous EU average of €0.28 (excl. VAT). To make a roamed call in another EU country must not cost more than €0.43 per minute, and no more than €0.19 to receive a call. From today, outgoing roaming calls will be charged by the second, after the first 30 seconds, rather than by the minute, and incoming calls will be charged by the second from the first second. Holidaymakers and business travellers can also surf the web, download movies or send photos with their mobile without fear of ‘bill shocks’ while roaming thanks to a wholesale cap of € 1 per megabyte (MB) downloaded. All these measures are expected to cut roaming charges for EU consumers by a further 60% and increase mobile phone use. The EU first acted on roaming in 2007 reducing the cost of voice roaming calls by 70%.

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 0.1 % in the year to May 2009, compared with 0.6 % in the year to April, continuing the sharp fall in annual inflation since its peak of 4.9% in July 2008. Month-on-month, prices rose by 0.2% in May, unchanged from April 2009.

The Monster Employment Index slipped one point or one percent in June as online job opportunities fell modestly, largely in line with seasonal expectations. Year-over-year, the Index was down 28 percent, somewhat of an improvement from April and May’s annual pace of decline.