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Due to recent higher medical claim costs, an aging population and changes brought about by health care reform, employers can expect 2011 health care cost increases to be at their highest levels in five years, according to an analysis by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company. Next year, Hewitt projects an 8.8 percent average premium increase for employers, compared to 6.9 percent in 2010 and 6.0 percent in 2009.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans feel “not good” or “bad” about the direction the economy is headed, up from 49% in May. And 76% don’t expect their quality of life, including their spending levels, to return to pre-recession levels until 2012 at the earliest, up from 63% who said that in May. That’s according to the findings of a survey released by AlixPartners LLP, the global business-advisory firm.

America's small business owners are considerably more upbeat about the financial performance of their businesses than they were a year ago, according to The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. Fifty-one percent of small business owners surveyed in June of this year anticipate their 2010 revenues will exceed their 2009 sales. A year ago, only 32 percent expected better financial performance in 2009 than the prior year.

The new frontier in online retailing lies across international borders as U.S. companies attempt to capitalize on the growing demands of foreign consumers. According to the State of Retailing Online 2010: Key Metrics, Multichannel and Global Strategies Report, conducted by Forrester Research, Inc. for Shop.org, nearly three-quarters (73%) of retailers surveyed are already sending merchandise abroad from their home country’s distribution center, with an additional 17 percent having an established foreign warehouse in place. On average, retailers in the U.S. who ship abroad report that approximately five percent of their revenue comes from foreign orders.

Mercer’s Outsourcing business announced results from its annual, nationally representative Mercer Workplace Survey, which revealed that while employer-sponsored benefit plan participants are optimistic about the direction of the US economy, they are still not confident in their own situation. This divergence in attitudes is the first of its kind since the launch of the Survey in 2003.

A three-month slide in small business confidence ended in September, driven in part by fewer small business owners reporting cash flow issues than they did in August, according to the Discover® Small Business WatchSM. The monthly index rose from 73 in August to 73.8 in September after falling 14.4 points since May.

Nearly one-third of Americans are unlikely to qualify for a mortgage because their credit scores are too low, making homeownership out of reach for many. This is according to an analysis of more than 25,000 loan quotes and purchase requests on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace during the first half of September.

The first of 78 million baby boomers turned sixty four years ago, and 2008 was supposed to see a huge number of retirements. But then the economy faltered, housing values plummeted, retirement portfolios shrank, and boomers who thought they had planned for financial security decided to postpone retirement for a few years. Now that those boomers are turning 64 and the economy is recovering, employers better start giving serious thought to the wave of retirements that is sure to come – if not this year, soon, predicts MRINetwork®, one of the world’s largest search and recruitment organizations.

Americans' confidence in their ability to access and pay for healthcare rose in August, reversing a more pessimistic outlook that had prevailed all year, according to a consumer sentiment index produced by Thomson Reuters.

Most everyone has felt it at some point. The commercial on television ends and there is still uncertainty about exactly what product or service that commercial was selling. You're not alone in that feeling of confusion. Three-quarters of Americans (75%) say they have found a commercial on TV confusing. One in five (21%) often find commercials on television confusing while 55% say they find commercials confusing not very often. Just 14% say they never find commercials on television confusing and 11% do not watch commercials on TV.