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CareerBuilder's annual college job forecast finds that employers are gradually hiring more recent college graduates this year. Forty-six percent of employers said they plan to hire recent college graduates in 2011, up from 44 percent in 2010 and 43 percent in 2009. Of those who plan to hire recent college graduates, 26 percent reported they will offer higher starting salaries than they did in 2010, an improvement from 16 percent who said the same in last year's survey and 11 percent in 2009. The survey was conducted online from February 21 to March 10, 2011 by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder, among more than 2,800 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

Workers’ top three concerns last year - having job security, making ends meet and having appropriate health insurance - remain the same as in 2009 as Americans put off thoughts of saving and planning for retirement to deal with more immediate issues. According to “The Realities of Getting Ready for a Secure Retirement,” the fourth in a series of research briefs stemming from Prudential’s Fifth Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond, the need to save for retirement is not recognized as one of the top financial needs and concerns. However, 64% of workers did rank it as “highly important.” As expected, 58-59% of those under 45 years old ranked it as “highly important,” below the more immediate need to reduce stress levels and improve emotional well-being (67%).

The recovery stalled in 2010, despite record terms of trade and support from policy stimulus. Households, businesses and farmers are attempting to repair over extended balance sheets in the aftermath of a property boom. The effects of two damaging earthquakes will further retard the recovery and make the outlook highly uncertain.

Consumer confidence in technology and the overall economy both increased in April, according to the latest CEA Indexes released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had decreased in March, improved in April. The Index now stands at 65.4 (1985=100), up from 63.8 in March. The Present Situation Index increased to 39.6 from 37.5. The Expectations Index rose to 82.6 from 81.3.

In February 2011 compared with January 2011, the euro area (EA17) industrial new orders index rose by 0.9%. In January the index grew by 1.2%. In the EU27, new orders increased by 1.2% in February 2011, after a rise of 0.5% in January. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU27.

After two consecutive quarters of increased optimism, the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey revealed a decline in small business owner optimism from Q1 2011 levels. Conducted April 4-8, 2011, the Index score dropped 12 points from last quarter and now sits at a score of zero indicating that small business owners, as a group, are neutral - neither optimistic nor pessimistic - about their companies’ situations. Credit availability concerns remain unchanged with about one-third reporting that obtaining credit would be somewhat or very difficult. Fewer business owners demonstrate confidence in their financial situation, revenues and cash flow over the next 12 months.

The 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in Japan and triggered the country’s worst disaster of the post-war era. The earthquake and accompanying tsunami resulted in an enormous loss of human life, as well as massive economic damage. A preliminary report by the government estimated the damage to social infrastructure, housing and private firms’ fixed capital at between 3.3% and 5.2% of 2010 GDP.

Employers took 1,286 mass layoff actions in March involving 118,523 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Resurgent global food prices, which posted record increases in the first two months of 2011, are again threatening to push millions of people in developing Asia into extreme poverty, says a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) titled 'Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia'.