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Online advertised vacancies rose 208,800 in March to 4,454,500 according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Data Series. The March rise follows a large January increase and a small change in February, and brings the gain in labor demand in the first quarter of 2011 to over 600,000.

The SFN Group Employee Confidence Index decreased 2.2 points to 51.4 in March. The Index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, reveals a dip in overall confidence among workers, specifically in regards to confidence in the strength of the economy.

Private nonfarm business sector multifactor productivity grew at a modest 0.1 percent annual rate in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. In 2009, the gain in multifactor productivity reflected decreases of 3.7 percent in output and 3.8 percent in the combined inputs of capital and labor. Capital services grew by 1.1 percent, and labor input which is the combined effect of hours worked and labor composition – fell 6.3 percent. For both the private nonfarm business and private business sectors, the declines recorded in output, combined inputs of capital and labor, and labor input were the largest in the series, which began in 1987. Growth in capital services was also the slowest recorded since the series began.

One out of two U.S. small business owners expect increased sales in the next six months, but rising non-labor costs threaten to squeeze profits and result in higher selling prices over the same period, according to the PNC Economic Outlook survey's newest findings.

Rising costs of food are giving Americans sticker shock at the grocery store, and consumers are responding by getting crafty with their saving strategies.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows interest rates increasing slightly with the 30-year fixed sitting at 4.86 percent, up five basis points from the previous week.

In a sharp change from the recent past, FICO’s quarterly Survey of Bank Risk Professionals found greater optimism about the health of U.S. consumers than at any point in the past year, with survey respondents expecting delinquency rates on car loans, credit cards and small business loans to decline. However, bankers remain concerned about mortgage foreclosures and credit availability for small businesses. The survey is conducted for FICO by the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA). The results were analyzed by the Columbia University Business School.

Nestle CRUNCH® released findings on the state of fun in America, based on a national survey conducted this month to determine the country's first-ever "fun quotient." Despite dismal news dominating headlines, Americans feel they have a "high" fun quotient or level of fun in their lives – with a whopping 86 percent of adults polled having fun at least once per week, most of whom experience fun on a daily basis, according to the CRUNCH Fun Quotient Survey.

From September 2009 to September 2010, employment increased in 162 of the 326 largest U.S. counties according to preliminary data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Elkhart, Ind., posted the largest percentage increase, with a gain of 6.8 percent over the year, compared with national job growth of 0.2 percent. Within Elkhart, the largest employment increase occurred in manufacturing, which gained 5,570 jobs over the year (14.2 percent). Sacramento, Calif., experienced the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the largest counties in the U.S. with a loss of 3.7 percent. Within Sacramento, state government had the largest percentage decrease in employment with a loss of 7.5 percent.

Private-sector employment increased by 201,000 from February to March on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report®. The ADP National Employment Report, created by Automatic Data Processing, Inc., in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month.