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Recession Briefing 9.2: The Peril of Jury Duty

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Few people like jury duty. But for many people squeezed by the recession, a jury summons holds a new fear: financial ruin. (New York Times)

American manufacturing expanded for the first time in 19 months, and pending sales of existing homes rose more than forecast, indicating the recession has ended. (Bloomberg)

We’ve all met 20-somethings who’ve been coddled by their parents and seem to expect everything to be handed to them. But the economy might just be changing Gen Y’s outlook. (Marketplace)

The same financiers who earned huge bonuses for creating, trading and investing in complex mortgage-backed securities that resulted in trillions of dollars in losses are now hoping to make another score buying and trading the same securities. (Washington Post)

Here’s a chart from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics showing unemployment in metropolitan areas across the U.S. (Huffington Post)

Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the recession. But there’s little agreement about which programs are having the biggest impact. (Wall Street Journal)

The proportion of people ages 16 to 24 who were employed in July was 51.4 percent, the lowest July rate since records began in 1948 and 4.6 percentage points lower than in July 2008. (McClatchy)

With consumers’ credit cards maxed out, many struggling retailers have resurrected layaway to get shoppers back in the aisles. (NPR)

The boss’ perception: Given the rough economy, workers are thrilled just to have a steady paycheck. The employee’s reality: Many are frustrated, secretly seeking new opportunities — and soon could be scooped up by another company as the economy recovers. (USA Today)

It’s that time of year again: young adults are schlepping off to college, many of them for the first time. How are parents handling the whole money conversation during this year’s tough economic times? (Marketplace)

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Tags: college, generation Y, securities