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Recession Briefing: The First Rule of Banking Is…

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

Recession-weary bankers are joining Fight Club-like mixed martial arts gyms. “We get a lot of finance guys,” said Max McGarr, the gym’s program director and a professional fighter. “It’s a good release from their job. If you lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s good to come here and get it out.” (Bloomberg)

Health-care spending in the United States grew last year despite a contracting economy, amounting to 17.3 percent of the gross domestic product, according to estimates released Wednesday. (Washington Post)

Gifts to colleges and universities declined almost 12 percent in the 2009 fiscal year, to $27.85 billion, according to the Council for Aid to Education’s annual survey of voluntary support of education. It was the steepest decline in the survey’s 53-year history. (New York Times)

A new television series set in the real-life workplace, Undercover Boss hits the airwaves this Sunday. The show puts executives to work in everyday jobs in an era when many companies are cutting budgets and employees are working harder for the same pay, or less. (Reuters)

Medium-sized businesses are back in hiring mode. After leading the charge in laying off workers during most of the recession, they added a net 9,000 workers last month, the ADP National Employment Report said Wednesday. (Christian Science Monitor)

European companies have forged a different path toward recovery. They are making old plants more modern and effective rather than watching workers or companies deemed uncompetitive fall by the wayside. (New York Times)

With 10% unemployment the norm nationally and some states hit even harder, more Americans are considering job prospects away from home. If you’re thinking of relocating — whether because you’re unemployed or just seeking better opportunities — here’s the way to go about it. (Money)

Despite promising economic growth numbers in the last quarter of 2009, economics bloggers have a grim outlook, according to a new survey. 48 percent of economics bloggers said in the mid-January survey that the economy was “worse than official government statistics show.” (Kaufmann Foundation)

The number of newly laid-off workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, evidence that layoffs are continuing and jobs remain scarce. The Labor Department also said worker productivity rose more than expected in the October-December quarter as companies squeezed more output from their employees. (Associated Press)

The global construction industry has escaped the worst of the recession, according to a survey, even though there will be places “where things will fall apart.” 53% of respondents noted that they still had the same project pipelines, or bigger, than 12 months ago. (Engineering News)

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Tags: bankers, bloggers, jobs, relocating, television, universities, Wall Street