Severance payments and benefits have been drawn down for at least 1,600 laid-off state government and education workers since July, North Carolina's state budget office said Wednesday. It again raises questions about the extent of layoffs caused by the Republican-penned budget.

Increasingly gripped by stalemate, Republicans and Democrats on a congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee now seem to be devoting more time to assigning blame than working through the sharp differences that divide them.

Ohio's largest state employee union reached a tentative deal with state officials on Wednesday to extend its current contract until 2015, the first bargaining agreement following the defeat of the state's contentious union law.

Ninety percent of employers offer wellness programs and are finding ways to encourage employee participation in an effort to control health care costs, finds the Advertising Specialty Institute.