Employee-Paid

For residents in the rural Midwest, the governor's announcement was golden: A global company with Chinese ownership planned to hire 612 people at a new factory making artificial sweetener.

Gov. Rick Snyder wants to tie retraining programs to companies' needs, erase barriers keeping welfare recipients from work and encourage more Michigan residents to earn math and science degrees under an initiative aimed at making workers more competitive in the global marketplace.

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose for the second straight week, a sign the hiring market is recovering at a slow and uneven pace.

House Republicans are drafting legislation to renew an expiring unemployment benefits program, officials said Thursday, and intend to add it to a planned extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut due to run out on Dec. 31.

Republican congressional leaders stressed a willingness Wednesday to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut due to expire Dec. 31, setting up a year-end clash with Democrats over how to pay for a provision at the heart of President Barack Obama's jobs program.

Michigan is launching a new state website aimed at matching Michigan residents with "tens of thousands" of unfilled jobs by offering workers and employers one-stop shopping for career planning, job openings and education and training, Gov. Rick Snyder told The Associated Press.

The House has passed a bill that would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from speeding up the pace of union elections.

House Speaker John Boehner says any extension of this year's payroll tax cut must be paid for with savings from elsewhere in the budget.