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Two out of three small business owners are concerned that employees might bring discrimination claims or other employment-related charges against them, according to a recent survey by The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB). More than 40 percent blamed a poor economy and 60 percent cited new worker-friendly employment laws and legislation.

Healthcare in Europe is facing major challenges in both structural reform and unavailability of resources as the region's working population is far lower in comparison to those of 'non-working' age. This calls for the introduction of new schemes in healthcare that would enable Europe to deal with issues pertaining to the growing ageing population. The involvement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in healthcare is evident from the fact that in recent years, the number of Internet users for health purposes has increased considerably. This is basically in the form of purchasing health products and services, and also for communicating with peers and healthcare professionals.

The weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for 30-year fixed mortgages increased five basis points last week to 4.67 percent, up from 4.62 percent the week prior, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, compiled by leading real estate Web site Zillow.com®. Rates for 15-year fixed mortgages rose one basis point to 4.20 percent from 4.19 percent, while 5-1 adjustable rate mortgages remained flat at 3.74 percent.

U.S. employees can expect median pay increases of 2.5% in 2010, according to a new Hay Group study. The 2.5% planned amount is the lowest planned increase in the last decade and it is also one half of a percent lower than when Hay Group conducted a similar study in July 2009, which forecasted a 2010 median pay budget increase of 3.0%.

The US should raise significantly federal funding on jobs programmes for young people in order to limit the impact of the economic downturn on the current generation of school leavers, according to a new OECD report. Given the pressure on public finances, this may require some reallocation of federal funding towards youth programmes.

The European Commission's latest State Aid Scoreboard shows the financial crisis multiplied the overall aid volume from € 66.5 billion or 0.52% of the EU-27 GDP in 2007 to € 279.6 billion or 2.2% of GDP in 2008. Crisis measures excluded, total aid stood in 2008 at € 67.4 billion or 0.54% of GDP. Timely and coordinated action by Member States and the Commission contributed to safeguarding financial stability.

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 34 days of the November – December 2009 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $15.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 4-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week saw three individual days eclipse $800 million in spending, led by Cyber Monday, with $887 million in spending, matching the heaviest online spending day on record. The following Tuesday nearly matched the Cyber Monday total with $886 million in spending, while Thursday, Dec. 3 reached $808 million in spending.

A total of 16.4 million equity trades with a combined value of £149.0 billion (€165.7 billion) were carried out across the electronic order books of London Stock Exchange Group during November. The average daily number of trades was 781,875, 21 per cent lower than November 2008, while the average daily value traded was £7.1 billion (€7.9billion), a decrease of seven per cent on the same month last year.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ increased for the fourth consecutive month. The index now stands at 90.8, up 1.8 percent from the revised October figure. The index is down 9.4 percent from a year ago.

India needs to strengthen and liberalise its regulatory framework and invest more in infrastructure in order to attract increased foreign direct investment (FDI), according to a new OECD report.