Jim Deramo says his former company’s bankruptcy was a blessing. Tom Hurwitch is glad he is no longer a cog in the wheel at a huge management consulting firm. And former portfolio manager James Wiess feels liberated from the shackles of the stock market. Like about 104,000 others in Massachusetts who [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON - The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets. The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans , those making more than $138,000 each year , earned 11.4 times the roughly $12,000 made by [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK — Investors moved back into stocks after a four-day slide as they awaited a key government report on unemployment. The Dow Jones industrial average tacked on 64 points today after sliding 300 points since Friday. Stocks held to a tight range in light trading volume as some investors [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK (AP) - Many employees who aren’t getting raises because of the recession are resorting to bargaining with their bosses: How about more vacation time instead? Asking for a few extra days off may sound simple, but career consultants say it’s not always an easy request for an employer to [ Read More → ]

After dizzying declines, the number of jobs in greater Portland edged upward in July, a tantalizing development that economists don’t expect to last. A gain of 300 jobs, following a drop of 6,600 in June, may seem like a turnaround. But Amy Vander Vliet, an Oregon Employment Department regional economist, [ Read More → ]

Layoffs mean service cuts at Portland’s Bureau of Developmental Services. Bureau officials announced today that starting Aug. 31, the service center at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave. will be closed on Mondays. Hours at the center also will be scaled back, to 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. This [ Read More → ]

WHAT HAPPENED?: A quarterly report released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that more than 13 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage have fallen behind on their payments or are in foreclosure. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?: It’s another new record, and an indication that the foreclosure crisis is still [ Read More → ]

SWIPING PLASTIC: It can sometimes be difficult to make a purchase if you don’t have a credit card — or impossible, in the event that you need to make a hotel reservation or rent a car. Sure, plastic can wreak havoc, but when used properly a credit card can be a [ Read More → ]

Weeks or even days before classes start, hundreds of thousands of college students nationwide still don’t know whether they’ll be able to cover their tuition bills this year. In Michigan, the state legislature continues to battle over the Michigan Promise Grant, a merit award of up to $4,000 given to 96,700 [ Read More → ]

Weeks or even days before classes start, hundreds of thousands of college students nationwide still don’t know whether they’ll be able to cover their tuition bills this year. In Michigan, the state legislature continues to battle over the Michigan Promise Grant, a merit award of up to $4,000 given to 96,700 [ Read More → ]