Employer-Paid

Based on a recent study by Natural Insight, there is a correlation between workers over-reporting mileage in expense reports with gasolines increasing prices.

States that borrowed billions from the federal government to keep unemployment benefits flowing through the recession now have to start paying those loans back, and they're hitting businesses with new assessments and higher taxes to make that happen.

An aging work force, poor employee health and costly medical conditions are expected to push health care costs per employee past the $10,000 mark for the first time in 2012.

President Barack Obama says he expects Congress to vote on jobs legislation this month and plans to press legislative leaders from both parties to act quickly on the $447 billion proposal he delivered three weeks ago.

In the early months of the recession, human resources consultants advised small business owners to take steps to boost their employees' morale, or risk losing them when the economy got better. That advice still stands.

Despite lingering health reform uncertainty and a still-sluggish economy, brokers remain oddly optimistic about their own individual futures but worried about the industry.