NATION

March 1, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NATION

Some companies post ads seeking employees

NEW YORK — In one good sign for the labor market, some companies are posting more ads seeking employees.

A Web site that aggregates online job ads across 12 major industries said help-wanted postings grew in January in half the fields it tracks, compared with a year ago.

Indeed.com began keeping records on job postings one year ago. January’s gains were the strongest yet. The company said the industries with the largest increase in job postings from January 2009 were hospitality, up 45 percent, and education, up 22 percent.

Survey: Lousy economy sickens business owners

NEW YORK — The lousy economy is literally making small- business owners sick, according to one management consulting firm.

A random telephone survey of 713 small U.S. business owners found that more than half have experienced negative health effects, both physically and mentally, since the economic recession began. Meanwhile, 27 percent do not have the financial resources to weather the next quarter, according to the study done by Park Ridge, Ill.-based George S. May International.

About 80 percent of the respondents said their company may not survive unless economic conditions improve within nine months, while 16 percent gave a limit of three months and 4 percent, six months.

Associated Press