More Americans Than Expected Filed For Unemployment Benefits Last Week

More Americans than expected filed for jobless benefits last week, which also happens to coincide with the April payroll employment survey week, echoing the International Monetary Fund's view that job creation this year and next will be modest at best.

In the week ended April 14, applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased by 2,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 388,000, to 386,000, according to data from the Labor Department issued Thursday in Washington. The level of claims was above market expectations for a 370,000 reading.

The four-week moving average, which normally provides a better indication of the underlying trend in labor markets, was 374,750, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's upwardly revised average of 369,250 for first-time benefit applicants.

"We've gotten some weak data recently," Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh, said before the report and suggested he'll be "a little worried" if Thursday's report comes in above the 380,000 mark again.

U.S. employers hired a less-than-expected 120,000 workers in March, while the unemployment rate dropped to a cycle low of 8.2 percent on declining labor-force participation.

"There are some temporary, one-time factors that caused some weakness in March, but I think the April report will be better," Faucher said, adding that he expects to see job growth of more than 200,000 a month over the rest of the year.

Strong job gains are important because they lead to income growth that supports consumer spending, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

Continuing Claims

The number of people filing for benefits after an initial week of aid increased by 26,000, to 3.30 million in the week ended April 7.

The continuing claims figure doesn't include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

The four-week moving average for the week ended April 7 fell 21,500 to 3.32 million from the preceding week's revised average of 3.34 million.

IMF

In its World Economic Outlook published in advance of semiannual meetings, the IMF said it foresees the U.S. economy growing at 2.1 percent in 2012 and rising to 2.4 percent in 2013.

That is modestly higher than the growth rates of 1.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively that the IMF had forecast in January.

"The U.S. economy has gained some traction, with growth improving through 2011 and signs of expansion in the job market," the IMF said.

Home prices remain weak and the prospects for job creation this year and next are will be modest at best, the IMF noted.

Stock index futures gained Thursday. The S&P 500 futures rose 2.80 points and Dow Jones Industrial average futures added 26 points.

Tips to Prepare for the Switch to VoIP

Communication is arguably the single most important aspect to a successful business. One of the most familiar forms of communication is the telephone, and with advances in technology, it’s unsurprisingly gone digital. The most commonly used digital voice system being Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

VoIP has become the main backbone of voice communication for a growing majority of companies, offering numerous benefits including potentially large cost savings, and decreased maintenance costs. When it was first introduced, the technology needed to run a VoIP system was expensive, limiting it to MNCs and other large organizations. However, over the past few years, the technology has come down in price and is now available for next to nothing, allowing SMEs to make the switch to VoIP. If your company is thinking of ringing the changes, there are some necessary requirements you should meet before you migrate.

Foundation
A solid foundation for VoIP is key, as without a good foundation you’ll find that network speed and call quality are poor during heavy use. Most SMEs aim for a VoIP system that can handle around 10 employees on the phone at any given time. Before you start the integration, you should track your current call volume by keeping a note of the number of calls in and out, while paying close attention to call volume during peak hours and days.

You should also investigate the speed and stability of your current Internet connection. While a fast DSL or cable connection is good for browsing, it may not be robust enough to handle VoIP communications, which need a connection that is both quick and stable. Look at your downstream (traffic into your network) and upstream (traffic out of your network) connection speed during a time when the network is experiencing heavy data use. Anything over 1.5 Mbps in both directions should be enough to handle the majority of VoIP systems. Most Internet service providers offer a connection speed well above that, but it’s important to check it out first.

Framing
When you have a solid foundation that will support your needs, the next step is building the frame for VoIP. You should determine exactly what’s required from your new system. Some good questions to ask include: Am I going to need to make international calls? How many VoIP connections am I going to need? Am I going to want to make video calls? What’s my budget?

Once you’ve determined your needs you can move on to picking equipment. If you’re a business that typically sticks to local, and some long distance calls, you shouldn’t require much in the way of equipment. The vast majority of companies use a device called a media gateway that allows normal phones to interface with an Internet connection – essentially turning a regular phone into a VoIP phone. If you’re a business that would like to take advantage of the more advanced features of VoIP, like portability, you’ll need more state-of-the-art equipment.

The final issue you need to address is security. On its own, VoIP is not the most secure of connections, as it’s open to all the same types of security breaches that computers and networks can fall prey to. To combat this, many good VoIP service providers will have security measures in place to protect VoIP calls on their network. On your end, it also helps to keep your Internet security up-to-date and conduct regular system scans.

Once you’ve addressed the internal requirements it’s time to start looking for a VoIP service provider. Take your time, shop around, ask competitors and other businesses what service they use. One question to ask a prospective provider is if they will be able to migrate your current number onto their system? While most can switch over your existing numbers, it can take a while, depending on your location and local legislation. So be sure to check if the provider can migrate your numbers and how long it will take.

From there, you should be ready to switch over to VoIP. If you’re still unsure of the process, there are consultants available who can help with the preparation, selection and integration. Good luck, and if you need more information about VoIP, we are here to help you.

Yahoo laying off 2,000 employees, eliminating 14 percent of workforce to save $375 million

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is laying off 2,000 employees as new CEO Scott Thompson sweeps out jobs that don’t fit into his plans for turning around the beleaguered Internet company.

The cuts announced Wednesday represent about 14 percent of the 14,100 workers employed by Yahoo.

The company estimated it will save about $375 million annually after the layoffs are completed later this year. Yahoo will absorb a pre-tax charge of $125 million to $145 million to account for severance payments. The charge will reduce Yahoo’s earnings in the current quarter.

Workers losing their jobs will be notified Wednesday. Some of the affected employees will stay on for an unspecified period of time to finish various projects, according to Yahoo.

The housecleaning marks Yahoo’s sixth mass layoff in the past four years under three different CEOs. This one will inflict the deepest cuts yet, eclipsing a cost-cutting spree that laid off 1,500 workers in late 2008 as Yahoo tried to cope with the Great Recession.

The previous purges under Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and his successor, Carol Bartz, boosted earnings. But trimming the payroll didn’t reverse a revenue slump, which has disillusioned investors yearning for growth at a time when more advertising is flowing to the Internet.

The cuts are part of an overhaul aimed at focusing on what Thompson believes are Yahoo’s strengths while also trying to address its weaknesses in the increasingly important mobile computing market.

Thompson is betting Yahoo will be able to sell more advertising if it’s more astute in the analysis of the personal information that it collects from the roughly 700 million people who visit its website each month. He is also looking for ways to improve the products that it makes for smartphones and tablet computers, a goal that may require hiring more specialists in mobile technology.

Yahoo also has been exploring selling a service, called Right Media that helps place ads around the Web. If a deal gets done, that would enable Yahoo to shed even more workers. No further details on the Right Media discussions were provided on that effort in Wednesday.

Thompson is making his move three months after Yahoo lured him away from a job running eBay Inc.’s online payment service, PayPal.

The layoffs “are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo — smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require,” Thompson said in a statement.

“We are intensifying our efforts on our core businesses and redeploying resources to our most urgent priorities,” he said. “Our goal is to get back to our core purpose — putting our users and advertisers first — and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal.”

Yahoo’s stock rose 9 cents to $15.27 in morning trading Wednesday.

Thompson said he would elaborate on his plans April 17 when Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is scheduled to release its first-quarter results.

Wednesday’s upheaval is the latest sign of Thompson’s determination to shake up the company. Once a pacesetter, Yahoo in recent years has been outmaneuvered and outsmarted by Internet search leader Google Inc. and social networking leader Facebook Inc. in the race for online advertising.

Since Thompson arrived, Yang left Yahoo, and four other members of the company’s board, including Chairman Roy Bostock, have decided to step down later this year. The exodus cleared the way to appoint five new directors to join Thompson on what will eventually be a 10-member board.

One of Yahoo’s largest shareholders, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, is pledging to shake up the board yet again. Spurned by Yahoo, Loeb has launched a campaign to persuade the company to elect him and three other alternative candidates as directors. If a truce isn’t reached, the dispute will be revolved in a shareholder vote at Yahoo’s annual meeting.

Thompson also picked a fight with Facebook in an attempt to bring in more money to Yahoo. He is suing Facebook for alleged infringement on 10 of Yahoo’s Internet patents. Facebook denied the claims and retaliated with a patent-infringement lawsuit of its own this week.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MasterCard, Visa confirm credit card data theft described as 'massive'

Law enforcement officials are investigating what appears to be a massive theft of U.S. consumers' credit card data, MasterCard and Visa confirmed Friday. The computer security expert who first reported the theft said it might involve as many as 10 million MasterCard and Visa accounts, making it one of the largest known credit card heists.

"MasterCard is currently investigating a potential account data compromise event of a U.S.-based entity and, as a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk," that association said in a statement. "Law enforcement has been notified of this matter and the incident is currently the subject of an ongoing forensic review by an independent data security organization." 

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The theft was first reported by well-known computer security journalist Brian Krebs on his blog, KrebsonSecurity.com. Krebs said the crime involves compromise of a credit card payment processor — a "middle man" that handles transactions between retailers and banks. The name of that institution is unknown, but processors have long been a target of identity thieves because of the enormous amounts of data they control. In 2008, Princeton, N.J.,-based Heartland Systems was hacked, exposing tens of millions of credit card account numbers to theft.

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Krebs reported that hackers had access to the unknown processor's data from Jan. 21 through Feb. 25, and were able to siphon off enough data to easily create counterfeit cards. His sources called the leak "massive."

Visa, in a statement, also acknowledged the data theft but said its own systems were not hacked.

 “Visa Inc. is aware of a potential data compromise incident at a third party entity affecting card account information from all major card brands," the firm said. “Visa has provided payment card issuers with the affected account numbers so they can take steps to protect consumers through independent fraud monitoring and, if needed, reissuing cards."

The Wall Street Journal quoted “people with knowledge of the situation” as saying that Atlanta-based payment processor Global Payments Inc was at the center of the data leak. Trading of Global Payments shares was halted on Friday.

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Gartner security expert Avivah Litan said she's been told that thestolen data is already being used on the street by identity thieves.

"I’ve spoken with folks in the card business who are seeing signs of this breach mushroom. Looks like the hackers have started using the stolen card data more recently," she said.

She's been told that investigators believe the data theft originated in New York City.

"From what I hear, the breach involves a taxi and parking garage company in the New York City area, so if you’ve paid a NYC cab in the last few months with your credit or debit card — be sure to check your card statements for possible fraud," Litan said in her blog post on the topic.

MasterCard said none of its computers were hacked as part of the incident.

"MasterCard is concerned whenever there is any possibility that cardholders could be inconvenienced and we continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information," the association added in its statement. "If cardholders have any concerns about their individual accounts, they should contact their issuing financial institution.... It is important to note that MasterCard's own systems have not been compromised in any manner. "

Is This What We Have to Resort to?

Man saws off own foot to continue receiving unemployment benefits

It sounds like the plot of a boring "Saw" film, but it's apparently all too real.

An unemployed Austrian man cut off his own foot with a mitre saw so he could continue receiving jobless benefits.

Hans Url, a 56-year-old from Mitterlabill, then took the foot and cooked it in the oven so doctors could not reattach it.

"The planning was meticulous," Franz Fasching, a police spokesman, told the Daily Mail. "[Url] waited until his wife and his adult son had left the house and he was alone. He then switched it on and sliced off his left foot above the ankle—throwing it in the fire so it would not be possible to reattach it before he called emergency services."

He "then made his way to the garage where he called emergency services and waited for them to arrive."

Url was airlifted to a hospital in Graz, where he was put in an artificial coma so doctors could stabilize him.

"The foot was too badly burned to reattach," a hospital spokesman said. "All we could do was seal the wound. He had lost a lot of blood—he almost died on the way to hospital."

According to the Austrian Times, Url had complained before the incident that he was too sick to work and "didn't like the work he was offered."

The kicker: According to the paper, being footless does not necessarily qualify Url for unemployment compensation.

"He will be assessed once he is out of hospital, and we will see what work we can find for him," Hermann Gössinger, a spokesman for the employment benefits office, said.

Nomophobia, Fear Of Being Without A Mobile Phone, On The Rise: Survey Says

Nomophobia is on the rise. In a recent study by SecurEnvoy, 67 percent of respondents are afraid of losing or being without their mobile phones, up from 53 percent in the prior survey four years ago. In fact, 41 percent are so worried, they own two or more phones.

Women (70 percent) are more worried than men (61 percent) about being without a phone, but that could be because men are more likely to have multiple phones than women (47 percent compared to 36 percent). It's not surprising that people ages 18 to 24 are most nomophobic (77 percent).

Why it matters to your business: The study confirms how much consumers are addicted to their phones -- and that spells opportunity. People are spending more and more time tweeting, checking in and yes, shopping on the go. So it's an important reminder to double down on your mobile strategy, making sure your website is optimized for mobile viewing, determining whether you need an app and identifying ways to incorporate Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social media.

Common Careers for Personality Types

Research has shown that many of the different Personality Types tend to have distinct preferences in their choice of careers. We have incorporated observations of each type's character traits which affect career choice along with some suggestions for possible directions. We have also included lists of actual careers which the various types have chosen in their lives.

This material is provided for your reference, and is intended to be an informational guide. It does not comprise a complete analysis of ideal careers for individuals, and does not guarantee success or failure at any occupation. As we know, individuals vary greatly. However, we certainly encourage personal self-knowledge and research in your quest to live up to your fullest, and for this reason we provide you with this information. For a complete and personal evaluation of career possibilities, you should speak with a career guidance counsellor.

Click here to see where you stand:

http://www.personalitypage.com/careers.html