To some conservatives, it's amnesty. To some advocates, it's unnecessarily punitive.

North Carolina business recruiters say a historically outsized package of about $100 million in state and local incentives to get MetLife Inc. to move 2,600 jobs from other states to North Carolina could stall benefits to other companies or force lawmakers to loosen up the rules.

Two Wisconsin appellate courts bolstered portions of Republicans' contentious collective bargaining restrictions Tuesday, ruling that Milwaukee police can't negotiate their own health care costs and that a county board legally required elected officials to pay more for their benefits.

Annual wage increases are expected to remain fairly static in the foreseeable future.