JOBS

Conditions in the U.S. construction industry have improved since President Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus plan into law in February, but employment in the battered sector needs more help, an industry trade group said on Thursday.

Major U.S. and European companies reported lower profits on Thursday, with most saying they did not expect a quick economic recovery, while U.S. and German jobless numbers, while both higher, offered differing clues about when the recession will end.

Healthcare and clean energy rank as bright spots in a bleak U.S. jobs market and both stand to generate even more employment under plans put forward by President Barack Obama.

Transatlantic exchange group NYSE Euronext on Thursday said it planned to cut 290 jobs in Europe and the U.S. as second-quarter earnings before one-off items dropped 34 percent to $132 million.

The number of jobs created or saved by infrastructure projects funded by the U.S. economic stimulus plan more than doubled in June from May, according to a report released Tuesday by a House of Representatives committee.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook from 3M Co, gave investors confidence that the earnings season will remain strong ahead of key jobs and housing market data.

Stock index futures rose slightly on Thursday as investors remained positive following an overall strong earnings season and ahead of results from United Parcel Service Inc and McDonald's Corp .

Alternative energy jobs can provide vocations across many sectors of the economy but policy to spark them can take years to develop, U.S. governors told a Senate committee on Tuesday.

Only children from the richest British families can enjoy careers in top professions like law and medicine because of increasingly impenetrable social barriers, a government-commissioned report said on Tuesday.

Continental Airlines Inc posted a steeper second-quarter loss on Tuesday as the slump in business travel and fears about the H1N1 virus hurt revenue, and said it will cut its work force by 4 percent.

Belgian financial investor RHJ wants Opel to break even in 2011 on an operating basis by closing the carmaker's Antwerp plant, idling production in Eisenach and cutting 3,900 jobs in Germany, a newspaper reported.

McGraw-Hill Cos., which is currently trying to sell off its non-profitable BusinessWeek, said Thursday it has cut 550 jobs, or 2.5 percent of its workforce.

Stock index futures slipped on Thursday as a jump in quarterly profit at JPMorgan Chase & Co was overshadowed by investor angst about the future of lender CIT Group Inc and caution ahead of a key report on the labor market.

Citigroup Inc said on Wednesday it will outsource the core processing elements of a U.S. receivables management business to First Data Corp, saving money and reducing about 500 jobs.

Just three months after iTunes hit the 1 billion milestone, and after Saturday's one-year anniversary of the popular mobile app store - iTunes has now reached a record number of 1.5 billion downloads.

US Airways Group on Tuesday said it would reduce airport staffing by 600 jobs this fall because of weak demand for business travel and declining revenue.

Cisco Systems Inc is in the process of cutting between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs. according to an report from Thomas Weisel analyst Hasan Imam.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since January, but the seasonally adjusted data was distorted by an unusual pattern of layoffs in the automotive industry.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday after Alcoa posted better-than-expected quarterly results and gave a positive tone to the start of the second-quarter earnings season.

The U.S. service sector was still shrinking last month but at a slowing pace, with activity at the highest since September 2008, when Lehman Brothers' collapse exacerbated the global financial crisis, a report showed on Monday.

Oil dropped a dollar to below $66 a barrel on Friday after unemployment data hardened views economic weakness would sap energy demand and that last month's rally was overdone.