Employers are much more focused on worker needs than cost cutting when it comes to offering voluntary benefits.

The ranks of America's poor are greater than previously known, reaching a new level of 49.1 million or 16 percent due to rising medical costs and other expenses that make it harder for people to stay afloat, according to new census estimates.

According to the Randstad Employee Confidence Index, which gauges workers' employment confidence and optimism in the economic environment, rose by 0.8 points to 45.6 in October.

The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.