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Data through March 2011, released by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the U.S. National Home Price Index declined by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2011, after having fallen 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010. The National Index hit a new recession low with the first quarter's data and posted an annual decline of 5.1% versus the first quarter of 2010. Nationally, home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels.

Small business jobs rose slightly in May as employers added 45,000 jobs to their payrolls. Hours worked and compensation dipped slightly, showing declines of 0.13 percent and 0.14 percent respectively.

America's hiring managers and recruiters are forecasting healthy job growth for the remainder of this year, according to a new survey by Dice Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of specialized career websites for professional communities. Slightly more than half (51%) of employers and recruiters anticipate hiring more professionals in the second half of 2011 than in the previous six months. These survey results suggest the U.S. labor market remains on a favorable trajectory, particularly when the stronger levels of hiring experienced in the first half of the year are taken into account. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, private sector employers have added more than 200,000 jobs per month this year.

The unemployment rate for the foreign born was 9.8 percent in 2010, little changed from a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The jobless rate of the native born was 9.6 percent in 2010, up from 9.2 percent in 2009. The foreign born made up 15.8 percent of the labor force in 2010.

New research by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) at the School of Public Health estimates that the additional fine particulate matter emissions that can be traced back to traffic congestion in the nation's 83 largest urban areas lead to more than 2,200 premature deaths in the U.S. last year. The related public health cost, researchers say, was, conservatively, at least $18 billion.

Total marketing spending by U.S. small businesses (SBs, or companies with fewer than 100 employees) will expand in 2012, as an increased number of firms invests in advertising and promotional activities. According to New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., overall spending is expected to grow 4% rebounding from 2010 recessionary lows.

Since World War II, financial institutions have come to own a far greater proportion of stocks than private households have. Just after the war, individual citizens owned 90% of the stock market; by 2006, they owned only 30%. And the trend is not restricted just to the United States. It spans the globe.

Labor productivity - defined as output per hour - rose in 44 percent of the 52 detailed service-providing and mining industries studied in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This was down from 56 percent in 2008 and from 65 percent in 2007. Unit labor costs, which reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output, declined in 33 percent of the industries in 2009, compared to 31 percent in 2008.

Real estate investors by three to one will be more active in their local markets compared to typical homebuyers in the next 24 months, and 69 percent of investors say it'll be easier to find properties in the near future, according to a new national survey of real estate investors released by Move, Inc., the leader in online real estate.

The tough economy and high gas prices are driving consumers to prioritize fuel economy with their next car purchase according to a new survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. And to save at the pump, they are willing to compromise on purchase price, amenities, and size but not safety.