Market Digest

More Than 500,000 Other Modifications Have Been Completed Since January 2008

Bank of America has completed nearly 21,000 mortgage modifications under the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), according to the bank’s latest monthly progress report to the Department of Treasury.

“We are in a position to show strong results in completion of permanent HAMP modifications as we move into spring,” said Jack Schakett, loss mitigation strategies executive for Bank of America Home Loans. “We have a strong pipeline of modifications in the trial payment period, under review for conversion to permanent status, and out for final signature.”

HAMP has become the centerpiece of Bank of America’s aggressive response to the incidence of homeowners having difficulty making mortgage payments due to the economic conditions. However, the bank’s homeownership retention efforts were well underway prior to implementation of HAMP last year, and the company continues to rely on proprietary programs to modify loans for homeowners who do not qualify for the government initiative. From January 2008 through last month, Bank of America completed more than 500,000 mortgage modifications under its own programs.

When the government releases its monthly report on HAMP progress by all participating mortgage servicers, Bank of America will show 20,666 permanent HAMP modifications, up from 12,761 a month earlier. Another 22,303 additional permanent HAMP modifications are pending, awaiting the customers’ notarized signatures on their modified loan documents to finalize the process.

Bank of America leads the mortgage servicing industry with more than 240,000 active trial modifications under HAMP. Added to the more than 520,000 HAMP and non-HAMP completed modifications, 760,000 Bank of America Home Loans customers have had the opportunity to modify their mortgages since January 2008.

Bank of America is also preparing systems for implementation of two additional components of the government’s Making Home Affordable program. The bank was the first servicer and remains the only major bank to sign an agreement to participate in the Home Affordable second lien modification program. In addition, the bank will participate in the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program (HAFA), which provides streamlining of the short sale process to give customers who can’t afford to keep their home an alternative to foreclosure. HAFA is similar to a cooperative short sale program that Bank of America has been testing for several months.

Source: Bank of America

Property and casualty insurance industry net income nearly tripled in 2009, to $35 billion, according to the Highline Data Performance Monitor.

The Performance Monitor, which aggregates key statutory financial data reported by individual insurance companies every quarter, also found that the life insurance industry saw net gain from operations more than triple to a five-year high of $76.2 billion, up from last year’s five-year low of $17.6 billion.

The steep rise in net gain from operations was due to a greater decrease in premiums written, 16 percent, than in benefits paid, 14 percent, over the course of the year. This also drove life insurers’ return on equity to a five-year high of 15.2 percent.

The absence of major catastrophes during the year gave property and casualty insurers their biggest decline in net losses incurred, 11.3 percent in the past ten years.

These findings demonstrate that the industry as a whole has regained a considerable amount of ground lost during the economic crisis, but not all of it. Insurers entered 2010 in better shape than they did 2009, but were still behind where they were in recent years on many key measures.

• Despite their impressive gains in 2009, the $35 billion in net income for property and casualty insurers was still less than half that seen in 2006, $73.2 billion.

• The combined ratio for the property and casualty industry, while down to 101.3% from last year’s high of 105.1%, is still above the break even point. The combined ratio measures how well a company is performing its daily operations by combining the loss and expense ratios. Because the ratio was above 100%, the industry as a whole suffered an underwriting loss in 2009.

• Driven in part by the continued pressure on interest rates in equity markets, net investment income for life insurers hit a five-year low of $154.5 billion at year’s end. Net yield likewise hit a five-year low of 5.1 percent.

“Being the first to deliver annual statement data to the industry once again, we at Highline Data continue to give our customers an edge in the marketplace,” Laurie Dallaire, vice president and director of Highline Data, said. “Our findings suggest that property and casualty companies will continue to strive to contain expenses and further reduce their combined ratios while life companies will continue to rebuild capital and improve investment yields this year.”

On March 1, Highline Data was the first to publish comprehensive statutory financial statements from individual insurance companies. Currently, financial statements for all 3,313 individual companies that have filed are available via Insurance Analyst PRO, including 97 percent of the property and casualty industry and 90 percent of the life industry. Insurance Analyst PRO is the market’s premier online source for insurance industry statutory and GAAP financial analysis.

All of the data used in this analysis is available in Insurance Analyst PRO. The data is derived from the annual statutory financial statements filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) by individual companies.

Source: Highline Data

Changes Enhance Control, Choice and Clarity for Customers

As part of its commitment to provide more control, choice and clarity for its customers, Bank of America announced that beginning this summer it will only authorize single debit card transactions at the point of sale if a customer has enough money in their account at the time.

This change will help customers by reducing the likelihood they may inadvertently overdraw their account and thus eliminate unexpected overdraft fees on these transactions. Customers will still have the choice to link their checking account to another account through Overdraft Protection to cover these types of transactions.

“Our customers have been clear that they want to know if a purchase is going to overdraw their account,” said Susan Faulkner, Deposits and Card Product executive. “Our solution is simple, clear and helps customers control their finances by reducing the possibility of over-extending themselves at the point of sale with a debit card.”

Bank of America’s solution provides:

Control

Today, the majority of customers who overdraw their account do so as a result of everyday debit card purchases where the bank is unable to alert them at the time that the purchase may cause an overdraft and result in a fee. The bank believes the best option is to help customers by reducing the likelihood they may inadvertently overdraw their accounts and thus eliminate often unexpected overdraft fees on these transactions.

Choice

Bank of America continues to provide choices for those instances when customers need additional flexibility in managing their finances:

• Customers can link their checking account to a savings or other account through Overdraft Protection.
• Customers may use another form of payment.
• Customers may also be able to access cash through the Bank of America ATM network where they will be alerted that the transaction might cause an overdraft and result in a fee.

Clarity

The bank is clearly spelling out for customers how these changes are enhancing the control they have asked for while providing options that allow them to choose the solution that best meets their needs.

Bank of America continues to offer tools and services that provide customers with more flexibility and control in managing their finances such as:

• An easy-to-navigate Web site, bankofamerica.com/solutions, that provides tools and resources to help customers.
• Electronic alerts when accounts reach a low balance or a customer overdraws. Beginning this summer, Bank of America will set these alerts as an automatic feature for our online banking customers who have a checking account.
• The ability for customers to request that Bank of America not authorize any purchases, payments or withdrawals unless the full transaction amount is available in their checking account or a linked overdraft protection account at that time.

“We understand that the environment has changed, and we are changing with it,” added Faulkner. “We will continue to make changes to our products, services and solutions that deliver more value to our customers by providing the clarity, control and choice they need to better manage their everyday finances.”

These latest improvements are part of Bank of America’s determination to help customers manage their everyday finances and bank in the ways that fit their life. To that end, Bank of America is:

• Providing Clarity Commitments for our lending products that outline in simple, everyday language what a customer should expect from their relationship with us.
• Simplifying offerings, including the introduction of basic, straightforward products.
• Enhancing choice and convenience through the bank’s industry-leading online, mobile and ATM network.
• Renewing a commitment to financial education to help customers make more confident financial decisions and realize their opportunities.

Source: Bank of America

Guardian Analytics and Ponemon Institute Study highlights 40 percent of small and medium businesses change banks after a fraud incident

Guardian Analytics, the innovator in predictive analytics-based fraud prevention software, together with independent research firm, Ponemon Institute, announced the results of the 2010 Business Banking Trust Study. Over 500 executives and business owners from small and medium businesses (SMB’s) in the United States participated in the study. The research offers the first comprehensive look into the pervasiveness of fraud, the state of security at banks and SMB’s, and the impact of fraud on businesses’ relationships with their banks. The results indicate that criminals are successfully attacking SMB bank accounts at an unprecedented rate, banks are failing to proactively catch fraud, and a high percentage of SMBs are firing their banks because they are experiencing fraud.

“Banks have a new troubled asset – their customers,” said Terry Austin, CEO, Guardian Analytics. “The survey data proves that financial institutions are failing to protect the small and medium businesses that are at the heart of our economic recovery. SMBs are fed up with the banks that are leaving them vulnerable to fraud and not reimbursing them when they are attacked. Banks that do not improve their fraud prevention practices will lose customers and hurt their own recovery.”

The 2010 Business Banking Trust Survey sheds light on where security, communication and trust are breaking down between SMB’s and their banks, and the destructive impact that fraud has on the SMB-financial institution relationship. It also highlights that customers and banks are out of alignment regarding responsibility for protecting online accounts.

Data highlights include:

• Fraud Attack Rate: 55 percent of businesses reported experiencing fraud in the last 12 months, with 58 percent of fraud enabled by online banking activities.
• Fraud Detection Rate: 80 percent of banks failed to catch fraud before funds were transferred out of their institution.
• Fraud Loss Recovery: In 87 percent of fraud attacks, the bank was unable to fully recover assets.
• Fraud Loss Reimbursement: 57 percent of the respondents that have experienced a fraud attack were not fully compensated by their banks. 26 percent were not compensated for any part of their losses.
• Customer Churn: 40 percent of businesses said have moved their banking activities elsewhere after a fraud incident. 11 percent of businesses that have experienced fraud claimed they have terminated their banking relationship following fraud attacks, and additional 29 percent said they did not fully terminate their relationship, but moved their primary cash management services to another institution.
• Transparency: 24 percent of businesses claim that their banks do not provide a policy explaining the bank’s responsibilities to secure and protect their companies’ accounts from fraud. 39 percent are unsure if such a policy exists.

“Ultimately the data points to the need for banks to evolve their definition of reasonable security and proactively invest in process and technology to better protect their online banking customers,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “Only 20 percent of banks were able to identify fraud before money was transferred. The ROI of investing in fraud prevention is clear when you consider how fraud and churn drive productivity and profit loss as well as legal and reputation risks.”

The Guardian Analytics 2010 Business Banking Trust Study includes more details on SMB’s online banking behavior, their views of banks’ security practices, and top five recommendations for banks to retain customers through better security and communication practices. The full report is available for download at www.guardiananalytics.com/newtroubledasset.

Ponemon Institute was commissioned by Guardian Analytics to conduct the survey independently in February 2010. Guardian Analytics protects financial institutions and their customers from online fraud attacks and recently released FraudMAP® for Business Banking, the industry’s first solution designed to prevent fraud in online business banking accounts from login to logout.

Slow job creation continues to drag on the economy, according to the Consumer Reports Index for March. This month’s findings show that, although the tide of job losses has been stemmed, the level of job creation needed to fuel a consumer recovery has not developed.

Consumer Reports Employment Index stands at 48.7 for March, reflective of net job losses in the prior 30-days and on-par with February at 49.0. Over the past several months the proportion of Americans reporting losing their job in the past 30 days has been on a decline and is now stabilized at 6.0 percent versus 5.7 percent in February.

However, in recent months the proportion of Americans starting a new job in the past 30 days has also dropped, declining to 3.5 percent in February from a recent high of 6.2 percent in September. This may be an indicator that there is a deepening problem in getting the unemployed back to work. The expanding pool of unemployed and the effect this invariably has on the spending habits of the employed seriously restricts economic activity. Results indicate that labor conditions are poorest in the West, where the employment index dropped 1.2 percent.

The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index has shown improvement over the past several months, falling to 52.3 in March from 53.4 in February, continuing a downward trend from September 2009 (68.7). The key financial difficulties faced by consumers this month continue to be the inability to afford medical bills or medications (14.3%), and credit card increased interest rates, penalty fees, etc. (10.1%). This month, the North Central region of the U.S. saw an uptick in financial difficulties to 50.0 up from 43.1 in February.

“Though we are seeing modest gains in consumer confidence, led by the Trouble Tracker, pointing to a decline in financial difficulties, without improvement to the employment picture consumers will be reluctant to engage in the recovery,” said Ed Farrell, a director of the Consumer Reports National Research Center. “Once we begin to see job creations, a return to a solid, sustainable retail growth will emerge, and the consumer recovery will be more attainable.”

The lack of engagement with the economy is reflected in Americans’ spending habits. The Consumer Reports Past 30-Day Retail Index for March, reflective of February activity, is at 11.1, virtually unchanged from the prior month (10.9). This number stands firmly at pre-holiday levels, indicating that consumers are once again hunkering down. The Next 30-Day Retail Index, reflective of planned purchases for March, at 7.3, is below pre-holiday levels and marks the lowest levels tracked since August 2009 (7.5). The softness in this index points to a hesitancy among consumers to commit to spending in this uncertain economy.

The Consumer Reports Index report, available at www.ConsumerReports.org, comprises five key indices: the Sentiment Index, the Trouble Tracker Index, Stress Index, the Retail Index, and the Employment Index. Here are the key findings:

Consumer Reports Sentiment Index: 44.8

• Consumer Reports Sentiment Index remains unchanged from the prior month, 44.8 versus 43.9, respectively. Sentiment is up from a year ago versus today, but the overall gain has been modest, 41.9 versus 44.8, respectively. The most optimistic consumers are between the ages of 18-34 (54.8), household income of $100,000+ (50.9). The most pessimistic were households with an income of less than $50,000 (43.4) and Americans 65 or older (38.3).

The Sentiment Index captures respondents’ attitudes regarding their financial situation, asking them if they are feeling better or worse off than a year ago. When the index is greater than 50, more consumers are feeling positive about their situation. When it is below 50, more consumers are feeling worse. The Sentiment Index can vary from a high of 100 to a low of 0.

Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index: 52.3

• The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index addresses both the proportion of consumers that have faced difficulties as well as the number of hurdles they have encountered. This index has shown improvement over the past several months, falling to 52.3 in March from 53.4 in February, continuing a downward trend from September ‘09 (68.7).

• The key financial difficulties faced by consumers this month included:

– Unable to afford medical bills or medications (14.3%)
– Credit card increased interest rate, penalty fees, etc. (10.1%)
– Missed payment on a major bill – not mortgage (8.5%)
– Lost or reduced healthcare coverage (6.3%)
– Lost job (6.0%)
– Lower-income households, earning less than $50,000 a year, have been disproportionately affected. In the past 30 days:
– Unable to afford medical bills or medications (23.6%)
– Missed a payment on a major bill (not mortgage) (10.6%)
– Lost their job or were laid off (9.4%)
– Lost or have reduced healthcare coverage (8.8%)

The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker focuses on both the proportion of consumers that have faced difficulties as well as the number of negative events they have encountered. The negative events include: the inability to pay medical bills or afford medication, missed mortgage payments, home foreclosure, interest-rate increase, penalty fees, reduced lines of credit or other changes in credit-card terms, job loss or layoffs, reduced healthcare coverage, or the denial of personal loans. The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index is then calculated as the proportion of consumers that have experienced at least one of the negative events comprising the index multiplied by the average number of events encountered.

Consumer Reports Retail Index: Past 30-Day – 11.1, Next 30-Day – 7.3

• Consumer Reports Past 30-Day Retail Index for March, reflective of February activity, is at 11.1, on par with February (10.9). Troubling, though, is the fact that the Past 30-Day Retail Index now stands firmly at pre-holiday levels indicating that consumers are once again pulling back. This index was driven by purchasers of personal electronics (24.6%) up 1% pts., and major appliances (7.7%) up 1.4% pts.

• Supporting the theory that consumers are once again pulling back, is the Consumer Reports Next 30-Day Retail Index, reflective of planned purchases for March at 7.3, below pre-holiday levels and below the lowest levels since August 2009 (7.5). Individual categories comprising this index remained unchanged versus the prior month, except for small appliances (9.7%) down 4.1% pts.

• Among retail categories not included in the index (new car, used car, and new home), past 30-day purchases of new cars (3.3%), reflecting February activity, was up from the prior month (2.5%), while used cars remained steady and homes declined. The next 30-day planned purchasing (reflects March activity) points to a decline for new cars, 1.1% versus 2.7% the prior month. Used cars and homes remain unchanged from the prior month.

The Consumer Reports Retail Index looks at consumer purchases in the past 30 days as well as the outlook for planned purchases in the next 30 days across several categories. The Consumer Reports Retail Index represents the proportion of respondents that made a purchase in the following categories: major home appliances, small home appliances, major home electronics, personal electronics, and major yard and garden equipment. The Retail Index is a weighted calculation. For example, a major appliance is of greater value than a small appliance. Because of their size and frequency, car and home purchases are tracked separately.

Consumer Reports Stress Index: 57.7

• The level of stress consumers feel they are under is down compared to prior months and the Consumer Reports Stress Index is now at 57.7 versus February (59.9) and December (63.0).

The Consumer Reports Stress Index captures attitudes regarding the amount of stress consumers feel compared to a year ago. It asks whether they are feeling more stressed or less stressed. When the Stress Index is more than 50, consumers are feeling more stress and when it is below 50 they are feeling less stress compared to a year ago. The index can vary from 100 (Total Stress) to a low of 0 (No Stress).

Consumer Reports Employment Index: 48.7

• The Consumer Reports Employment Index stands at 48.7 for March, reflective of net job losses in the prior 30 days, and was on par with February (49.0). In the past 30 days, 6.0% reported losing their job versus 3.5% starting a new job.

The Consumer Reports Employment Index examines the change in employment of those that reported starting a new job versus those that have lost their job or were laid off in the past 30 days. An index below 50 indicates more jobs were lost than gained, while a score more than 50 indicates more jobs were gained than lost in the past 30 days.

Crude Oil Production Rose 60,000 Barrels Per Day From January

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) crude oil production rose to 29.31 million barrels per day (b/d) in February, an increase of 60,000 (b/d) from an estimated January level of 29.25 million b/d, according to a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in the oil producing group’s production agreements, output from the 11 members bound by quotas (OPEC-11) – under a 24.845 million b/d collective target – dipped by 10,000 b/d to 26.75 million b/d in February.

Increases totalling 170,000 b/d from Angola, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Venezuela were partly offset by decreases totalling 110,000 b/d from Libya and Nigeria, the latter’s production dropping by 100,000 b/d to 1.98 million b/d in February.

“With the price of oil at what many view to be a sweet spot now in the upper $70 to $80 per barrel range, OPEC has little appetite or need to make any changes at its upcoming March 17 meeting,” said John Kingston, Platts director of news. “The one number that jumps out from the Platts survey is the drop of 100,000 b/d in output from Nigeria, where a fragile peace pact in the Niger Delta appears to be unravelling. After several months of both rising production and rising optimism that the worst was behind the country, the output drop in February looks like a discouraging setback.”

The February estimates leave the OPEC-11 overproducing its ceiling by 1.905 million b/d, slightly increasing its rate of compliance to 54.64% from January’s 54.4%.

Compliance with the 4.2 million b/d of cuts agreed in late 2008 peaked at close to 82% in March last year but has been declining since last April alongside a broad firming of oil prices.

OPEC ministers meet in Vienna on March 17 to review the current production agreement which has been in effect since January 2009.

That agreement has been rubber-stamped at several meetings over the past year and, given remarks made by several ministers in recent weeks, looks set to be renewed yet again at next week’s meeting.

International crude benchmarks are currently trading around the higher end of the $70-$80/barrel (/b) range that Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi has described as “ideal” and which OPEC appears to have adopted as an unofficial target. For 2010 to date, the group’s basket of crudes has averaged $74.77/b.

Sixth Consecutive Increase; Index is Growing at the Fastest Rate Since 1994

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index(TM) (ETI) rose in February for the sixth consecutive month. The index now stands at 93.5, up from January’s 93.2. During the past six months, the index increased by 13.4 percent (annual rate), the highest six-month growth rate since 1994.

“The continued rise in the ETI suggests that job growth is about to begin,” said Gad Levanon, Associate Director, Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. “The past two jobless recoveries in 1991 and 2002 were a result of a continuous decline in manufacturing employment. This time, the strong recovery in manufacturing production has already led to two consecutive monthly increases in manufacturing employment. We are likely to see this trend continue over the next several months, which will contribute to overall job growth.”

This month’s increase in the Employment Trends Index was driven by positive contributions from four out of the eight components. The improving indicators were: Number of Temporary Employees, Job Openings, Industrial Production, and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.

The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called “noise” to show underlying trends more clearly.

The eight labor-market indicators aggregated into the Employment Trends Index include:

• Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs Hard to Get” (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey®)
• Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor)
• Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now (© National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation)
• Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons (BLS)
• Job Openings (BLS)
• Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board)
• Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)

The technical notes to this series are available on The Conference Board website: www.conference-board.org/economics/employment.cfm.

Largest State Workers’ Compensation System to Mandate Medical Billing EDI, Electronic / Paper Workflows, PHI Protections and Uniform Bill Data

Jopari Solutions is expanding its offering of eBill processing services in California to assist Payers’ compliance under the state’s new proposed Business Rules for Paper and Electronic Billing, published March 4, 2010. The proposed California rules encourage health care providers to use the ASC X12N 837 bill format, and require Payers to accept electronic and standard format paper bills containing equivalent information and data elements.

Jopari’s eBill services already support the company’s current Payers in California and will provide required expertise to Payers that have no prior exposure to jurisdictional eBill requirements. Jopari currently delivers electronic workers’ compensation medical billing arrangements for Payers under other jurisdictional mandates, providing eBill connectivity with a myriad of health care provider organizations in almost every state.

Under the new proposed California rules, Payers must implement several new bill processing competencies, and enhance existing medical bill workflow. This will include:

• supporting HIPAA ASC X12N Transactions, non-ANSI electronic transactions, and Acknowledgment notifications
• receiving, routing, processing, and storing (per NIST and FIPS guidelines) HIPAA compliant electronic bills and attachments
• performing required eBill pre-adjudication, indexing, edits and data validation
• executing secure EDI transmissions complying with Federal National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST), and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) guidelines
• compliance with contracting requirements and relationship management relating to Trading Partners, Business Associates and/or other third party vendors
• establishing business process automation and health care provider rading partner connectivity strategies
• supporting two-tiered timely payment disbursement time frames (15 day electronic bills / 45 day paper bills)

Stated Don St. Jacques, COO and SVP of Jopari Solutions, “Electronic billing requirements in workers’ compensation generally, and in California particularly due to tightened PHI protections, payment deadlines and uniform bill data elements, obligate a new set of bill cycle competencies. Jopari’s expertise in establishing enterprise-level HIPAA conforming eBill compliance, paperless bill and attachment workflow, and – very important under the California prompt pay rule — payment and remittance processing offers a complete package. We are getting the message out early about the requirements for our existing Payers so they can take advantage of expanding their processing cost efficiency and cost advantage in this market; but also to assist those currently non-automated Payers in establishing a viable solution.”

“California’s proposed workers’ compensation medical bill and attachment workflow requirements signal a more complex transactions environment for the industry going forward,” commented Mr. St. Jacques. “This modern environment entails the capacity to simultaneously and securely process a mix of bill formats and medical document media. By referencing Federal standards and guidelines, in combination with jurisdictional rule sets, data requirements and performance time frames are aligning workers’ comp medical services with the greater health care universe. But this alignment has to respect the distinctive legal obligations attendant to administering work-related medical claims. We believe availability of industry-centric medical EDI technology that fully understands this distinction is essential.”

Summary of proposed California eBill rules and a description of Jopari’s leading eBill Compliance services for workers’ compensation payers are available at www.jopari.com.

The SFN Group Employee Confidence Index decreased by 1.2 points to 48.9 in February. The Index, which measures workers’ confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, shows that fewer workers are confident in the strength of the economy and in job availability. On the contrary, more workers are optimistic about their job security and the future of their current employer.

“Although our report shows a decline in overall confidence from the previous month, it is still 6.2 points higher than the low point of 40.1 it registered at one year ago,” said Roy Krause, president and CEO of SFN Group, Inc. “In fact, hiring demand is better now than what we experienced a few months ago. We are seeing the demand for temporary work starting to pick-up — generally a sign that full-time hiring is on the horizon. From an employer and candidate perspective, I see this flexible segment becoming a greater percentage of the total workforce as we move forward in a recovery. Many employers continue to be hesitant to add staff on a full-time basis due to the uncertainty of the market. Additionally, the idea of working on different projects seems to be an appealing option for not only younger job seekers, but also all types of professional workers and Baby Boomers. As we talk to more and more candidates, we are finding that more people are looking for greater flexibility, stronger engagement, additional income and/or the opportunity to stay on top of the latest technology trends.”

Confidence in Overall Situation:

The SFN Group Employee Confidence Index decreased by 1.2 points to 48.9 in February. The Index, which measures workers’ confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, shows that fewer workers are confident in the strength of the economy and in job availability. On the contrary, more workers are optimistic about their job security and the future of their current employer.

Confidence in Macroeconomic Environment:

• Twenty-three percent of U.S. workers believe the economy is getting stronger, down five percentage points from January.
• Sixty-seven percent of workers surveyed believe there are fewer jobs available, jumping five points from the previous month.

Confidence in Personal Employment Situation:

• The number of workers confident in their ability to find a new job decreased by one percentage point to 38 percent in February.

The percentage of workers reporting confidence in the future of their current employers increased by three percentage points to 64 percent,

Job Security:

• Seventy percent of workers say they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next year, increasing three percentage points from the previous month.

Job Transition:

• Thirty-five percent of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, representing an increase of two percentage points from last month’s reading.

Confidence by Gender:

• In February, more men than women believe the economy is getting stronger. Specifically, 27 percent of men and 18 percent of female workers cited this.
• More males than females cited that they are confident in their ability to find a new job, with 45 percent of men and 30 percent of women reporting confidence.
• More women than men reported that they are likely to job search in the next 12 months. In February, 35 percent of women and 34 percent of men reported the likelihood to job search.

Confidence by Age:

• Workers ages 18-24 are the most likely to believe the economy is getting stronger, with 27 percent of workers in this age group believing so.
• According to the latest results, 74 percent of workers ages 45-54 believe there are fewer jobs available, the highest among all age brackets in February.
• Forty-nine percent of workers between the ages of 18-34 report that they are likely to look for a new job in the next year. This is the highest reading for all age brackets. On the contrary, only 21 percent of workers 55+ are likely to make a job transition in the next 12 months.

Confidence by Income:

• Workers earning $75K or greater are the most likely to believe the economy is getting stronger, with 27 percent indicating they believe so compared to 17 percent of those earning less than $35K.
• Workers earning less than $35K are the least confident in the future of their current employer, with 54 percent expressing confidence; while workers earning $75K or more are the most optimistic with 71 percent reporting confidence.
• Forty-two percent of workers earning less than $35K are likely to look for a new job in the next year. This is the highest reading across all income cohorts.

Source: SFN Group

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, which took effect February 22, 2010, requires new disclosures on monthly credit card statements. The Financial Services Roundtable and the Center for Responsible Lending have teamed up to explain a few of these new disclosures, which are intended to make the cost of credit clearer to American consumers.

The Disclosures WILL:

• Show you how long it will take to pay off your entire balance if you pay only the minimum payment each month and make no additional purchases or advances.
• Show — if it will take more than three years to pay off a balance at the minimum payment set by the card issuer — how much you would have to pay each month to pay off the entire balance in 3 years. Unlike a minimum payment, which goes down as the balance declines, a faster, 3-year payoff calculation is based on your making the same payment each month for 36 months.
• Show the total cost, including principal and interest, if you make only minimum payments to pay off the balance.
• Show the total cost, including principal and interest, if you make the payments to pay off the balance faster, in three years.
• Show how much more in interest you will pay by making the minimum payments rather than the larger payments to pay off the balance in three years.

The disclosures will NOT:

• Change or extend your monthly due date, which will now be the same date each month.
• Take into account future transactions. If you make new purchases, take out new advances or incur new fees, then the minimum payment, the amount of interest and principal and the length of time to pay off a balance will increase.
• Answer all questions regarding new disclosures. Customers should contact their financial institution directly.

Calculators:

Statements will now provide information under two scenarios — if you make minimum monthly payments or if you make larger monthly payments to pay off a balance in 3 years. Below are two credit card calculators you can use to evaluate other scenarios:

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/minimum-payment-calculator.aspx

http://www.federalreserve.gov/creditcardcalculator

Source: Center for Responsible Lending