Employer-Paid

Pressured by a $16 billion budget deficit, the governor is proposing a major overhaul of the state's welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people's benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster.

Larger companies hold advantages over smaller companies in recruiting, relocating and onboarding new employees. That's because they put in more money, structure and organizational support behind these efforts, according to the 2012 Allied Workforce Mobility Survey by Allied Van Lines.

President Barack Obama declared Friday that "the private sector is doing fine," drawing instant criticism from Republicans who said it showed a lack of understanding of the nation's economic woes. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney responded, "Is he really that out of touch?"

A Federal Reserve survey finds the U.S. economy grew moderately in most regions of the country this spring and companies kept hiring, a hopeful sign after a spate of gloomy data released last week.

A major bill to pay off Pennsylvania's nearly $4 billion unemployment compensation debt to the federal government is advancing through the Legislature.

North Carolina's Republican-led Legislature plans to revisit last year's bitter stalemate with Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue that led to more than 47,000 unemployed people being cut off from jobless benefits for months.