News

Recession Briefing: Fewer Jobs Shed in February

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

The U.S. economy shed fewer jobs than expected in February and the unemployment rate was steady at 9.7% despite stormy weather on the East Coast last month, which the government said may have temporarily hit payrolls and work hours. (Wall Street Journal)

Deal with the Devil?: Some entrepreneurs are offering 6% of all of their future earnings in exchange for cash upfront. (VentureBeat)

The economy is driving people crazy, literally when it comes to the growing number of hate groups in this country. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that monitors the activities of such groups, reports that the worsening recession, soaring public debt, bailouts for bankers, and misinformation over President Obama’s attempts at health care reform are fueling the radicalism.( WalletPop)

Amanda Hesser describes how it cost her medical insurer $618,616 to keep her husband alive for several years of treatments toward the end of his life — and asks whether it was worth it. (Bloomberg)

With all the attention given to the number of jobs on U.S. payrolls and the unemployment rate, it’s easy to miss one important sign of improvement in the job market: paychecks have started to get bigger. (CNN/Money)

Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a study has found. (USA Today)

Top undergraduate schools are fighting back with creative ways of getting their students into a badly rattled job market. (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

The House on Thursday approved a $15 billion measure intended to spur job creation by granting tax breaks to businesses that hire workers, as Democrats tried to show that Congress was doing something about stubborn unemployment. (New York Times)

The Great Recession has dried up funding for many college sports programs. (Christian Science Monitor)

A senior Treasury Department official overseeing the financial bailout told a congressional panel Thursday that the government is not providing a blanket guarantee that it will save institutions deemed too big to fail. (Washington Post)

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