Employee Participation

Colorado's governor is hinting that he'll announce hundreds of new jobs in an economic development announcement Friday.

Financed partly with the billionaire mayor's own money, the three-year, $127 million Young Men's Initiative is intended to lower poverty, crime, unemployment and dropout rates among black and Latino males between 16 and 24.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years and giving President Barack Obama a potential boost with the election a month away.

Employee confidence grew by 0.8 points to 52.4 in September, which was 7.6 points higher than 44.8, the years low, in September 2011, according to Randstad's Employee Confidence Index.

Financial markets remained subdued Thursday as investors were reluctant to stake out positions ahead of key U.S. jobs data.

Eighty-one percent of U.S. employees report feeling overall satisfied in regards to their positions, according to the 2012 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report by the Society for Human Resource Management.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 367,000, a level consistent with only modest hiring.

U.S. service companies, which employ nearly 90 percent of the work force, grew in September at the fastest pace since March, driven by more activity and an increase in new orders.