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Paid leave benefits continued to be the most widely available benefit offered by employers, with paid vacations available to 91 percent of full-time workers in private industry in March 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Access to these benefits, however, varied by employee and establishment characteristics.

Despite a volatile economy and rising costs for everyday necessities, consumers plan to keep their back-to-school spending intact by turning to savvy shopping tactics, smartphones and social networks, according to a new Deloitte survey.

Capital Access Network, Inc.’s Data Services Division Small Business Credit Sales Report indicates the nation’s women-owned small businesses are experiencing less of a decline during this recession than men-owned small businesses. CAN’s examination of thousands of small businesses show that Main Street businesses lost 3.4 percent of their card sales in Q2 2011, compared to Q2 2010, but that women-owned small businesses saw a decline of only 1.5 percent (compared to men-owned businesses which saw a 3.6 percent drop).

After surviving a period of unprecedented restructuring and global financial tremors, the automotive industry now finds itself facing a whole new set of competitive challenges and decisions - ranging from keeping costs and capacity under control with the slow, “post-bubble” sales recovery in the U.S., to placing the right bets on vehicle-propulsion and other technology systems, to focusing on the right emerging markets. That’s according to a comprehensive annual automotive industry review released by AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm.

According to a recent HP survey of more than 500 IT managers at small businesses across the United States, 93 percent of companies have placed cost concerns over the best IT solutions, leading 89 percent of those companies to experience IT-related problems.

Although tentative, the economic outlook for small businesses shows some signs of improvement. But according to MetLife’s 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, small businesses (those with fewer than 500 employees) may now face a new challenge, employee retention, as there has been a significant decline in employee loyalty.

The use of smart phones and tablet PCs by U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs, with fewer than 1000 employees) is experiencing tremendous growth. New York-based AMI-Partners cited nearly 3.5 million U.S. SMBs are currently using smart phones and 700,000 using tablet PCs. In the next 12 months, AMI estimates that the number of SMBs owning these devices will increase by 40% and 85%, respectively.

A study released today by Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) found that only 58% of Americans track their spending against a monthly budget. Bankrate's overall Financial Security Index fell from 97.8 in June to 95.6 in July, the lowest reading since April. Confidence in job security and savings dropped to 2011 lows.

The economy is struggling to regain the momentum lost since the beginning of 2011 as higher gasoline prices and supply-chain disruptions due to the Japan tragedy during the first half of the year combined to restrain growth, according to the July 2011 Economic Outlook released today by Fannie Mae's (OTC Bulletin Board: FNMA) Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group. Economic growth in the second quarter is estimated to have moved at the same anemic 1.9 percent pace seen during the first quarter. However, motor vehicle production is on track for a rebound and we've seen a decline in oil prices, which should encourage growth of about 3 percent for the current quarter before slowing modestly in the final quarter. Full-year growth is projected to slow to 2.4 percent, down from 2.8 percent in 2010.

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in June. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate increases, 8 states recorded rate decreases, and 14 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Thirty-nine states posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, eight states and the District of Columbia reported increases, and three states had no change. The national jobless rate was little changed at 9.2 percent, but was 0.3 percentage point lower than a year earlier.