Benefits Manager

Unemployment rates fell in three-quarters of large U.S. cities in November. The second straight month of declines for most major markets suggests the modest improvement in the job market is widespread.

The funded status of pension plans has been on a wild ride since 2008, experiencing major declines in 2008, 2010 and 2011. The drops were due to the double whammy of declining equity markets and lower interest rates, said Jonathan Barry, Mercers U.S. Retirement Risk & Finance DB Risk Leader,...

A payroll tax cut that has been in effect since 2011 will extend through the end of February. The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 temporarily extends the two percentage point payroll tax cut for employees, reducing their Social Security tax withholding rate from 6.2 percent to 4.2...

According to data by SurePayrolls Small Business Owner Optimism Survey, 50 percent of small business owners say they plan to hire in 2012, and 56 percent expect to raise pay for some or all employees while only 2 percent say they anticipate cutting wages.

The number of people seeking unemployment aid rose last week for the first time in a month. But the rise comes after weekly claims fell to their lowest level in three and a half years in the previous week, and the overall downward trend suggests hiring could accelerate soon.

Manufacturing grew in December at the fastest pace in six months and hiring at U.S. factories picked up. The data helped bolster the view that the economy gained momentum at the end of last year.

On Dec. 23, Congress passed a measure that allows for an extension of a two-percentage-point payroll tax cut. When is the tax scheduled to increase again?

Human resource departments across the country had a perfect opportunity to test their own ability to communicate with their work forces this week when the House decided to wait until the last minute to renew the payroll tax cut (for a whopping two months).