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From April to July 2011, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old rose by 1.7 million to 18.6 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This year, the share of young people who were employed in July was 48.8 percent, the lowest July rate on record for the series, which began in 1948. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) Unemployment among youth increased by 745,000 between April and July, more than last year’s increase of 571,000, but well below the levels seen in 2008 and 2009 (1.2 and 1.1 million, respectively).

While better days may be on the horizon for the commercial bankruptcy market, it remains to be seen if recent trends will continue for the nation's more than 24 million small businesses. According to a national study conducted by Equifax Inc., small business bankruptcies declined by 15.32 percent from Q1 2010 to Q1 2011, with a noticeable drop in key Western states.

As retailers gear up for the holiday shopping season, many hope that the recent stock market turbulence will not prevent the strong end-of-year performance of years past. Retailers have come to count on the sales spike that traditionally occurs during Q4. The US Department of Commerce found that in 2010 retail ecommerce sales jumped from $39.2 billion to $53.2 billion between the third and fourth quarters.

TrueCar.com, the authority on new car pricing, trends and forecasting, released its August 2011 sales and incentives forecast. For August 2011, new light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) is expected to be 1,076,989 units, up 8.0 percent from August 2010 and up 2.0 percent from July 2011.

Capital One Small Business released the results of its Small Business Barometer survey for the second quarter of 2011. The quarterly survey polls small businesses across the nation, gauging their current financial condition and business projections for the next six months. Survey results from Capital One’s survey for the second quarter, suggests that many U.S. small businesses are experiencing gradual, but continued improvement in financial performance. The small business leaders surveyed also report growing confidence in the economic environment, which appears to be contributing positively to hiring and investment decisions for their business in the near term.

Mortgage rates posted mixed results this week, but the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a record low of 4.41 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.43 discount and origination points. The previous record low of 4.42 percent was set in October and November of 2010.

In June 2011 compared with May 2011, the euro area (EA17) industrial new orders index fell by 0.7%. In May the index rose by 3.6%. In the EU27 new orders decreased by 0.3% in June 2011, after an increase of 1.2% in May. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders declined by 3.0% in the euro area and by 2.2% in the EU27.

Ah, summer; a time when kids spend their days playing sports and games outside and visiting local pools and beaches. But, with all the various forms of media now available, are these quintessential summer images still accurate? Many parents of those 17 or younger and living at home say their children consume various types of media more, including watching television and playing video games, during the summer months.

Employers took 1,579 mass layoff actions in July involving 145,000 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Each mass layoff involved at least 50 workers from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in July increased by 47, or 3 percent, from June, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 1,556, or 1 percent. In July, 342 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 35,460 initial claims.

The US mobile web population will be up almost 25% this year as 97.3 million mobile owners log on to the internet from their device at least monthly, eMarketer estimates.