Employer-Paid

Thirty-one percent of lawyers plan to hire legal staff in the first quarter of 2012, but another 4 percent expect to cut staff, according to the a quarterly legal hiring survey by Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing firm.

Throughout 2011, employer hiring plans remained mostly flat during the last three quarters of 2011, and signs point to a slow first quarter of 2012, according to a recent quarterly survey by BNA, a legal, regulatory and business information provider.

The West is recovering faster than the nation as a whole, but employment across the region remained far below pre-recession levels and the housing market showed few signs of improvement, according to an economic report released Thursday.

Twenty percent of chief financial officers expect to hire full-time accounting and finance employees in the first quarter in the first quarter while 11 percent plan to reduce staff, according to the recent Robert Half Financial Hiring Index.

There could be a stronger connection between corporate finance and human resources executives as U.S. companies start to focus on the implications health care reform could have on their reward programs and talent management strategies, according to a new survey by global professional services company Towers Watson and Forbes Insights....

Congressional negotiations over a bill extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits can begin as soon the Senate rejects a version the House approved despite a White House veto threat, the Senate's top Democrat said Wednesday.