Benefits Manager

Seeking a jolt for the economy, President Barack Obama will lay out new ideas for speeding up job growth and helping the struggling poor and middle class in a major speech in early September, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.

Just 9 percent of information technology leaders report that their employers have formal, well-defined processes in place to deal with their current work force planning strategies, with only 8 percent having a system for focusing on future strategies, finds a recent quarterly study from TEKsystems and the Inavero Institute.

The number of workers covered by workers' compensation hit a new low when the figure fell by 4.4 percent in 2009, the largest decline in two decades, according to a report by the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Q and A with Robyn Credico, senior consultant with Towers Watson

Insurance regulators have told Michigan's largest health care provider to give seniors who purchase Medigap coverage more time to prove they live in the state so they can avoid a large rate increase.

Wisconsin's powerful statewide teachers union said 40 percent of its staff members were laid off Monday as a result of the law pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the Legislature curbing collective bargaining rights.

The Philadelphia School District says it will be offering teaching positions for the upcoming school year to 325 teachers laid off earlier this summer.

Wisconsin Democrats sought Tuesday to hold the ground they gained in last week's recall elections by fending off Republican attempts to oust two senators who fled the state in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's proposal curbing public employee collective bargaining rights.