President Barack Obama said he was confident the US economy would recover, despite new data showing unemployment at a 26-year-high of 9.5 percent, which dampened hopes of a quick rebound. Obama said the latest jobless figures, revealing the economy shed 467,000 jobs last month, were "sobering" but insisted there were signs that the recession was slowing after the worst slump since the 1930s Great Depression. "As I've said from the moment I walked into the door of this White House, it took years for us to get ...

In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence. Increasingly, states aching under the weight of the recession are seeking a way around that rule. Because companies like Amazon.com Inc. get help drumming up sales from online affiliates — people who link to products on their blogs, promote Web shopping deals and offer coupons — several states ...

Like many unemployed older workers, 64-year old Allan Kellum fears his age has made it harder to find a new job. At a recent job fair, Kellum expressed interest in a supervisory role coordinating an international health assistance program. A recruiter set him straight: "The people applying for that are young." So now Kellum, who lives in McLean, Va., takes no chances. He's deleted his college graduation date from his resume and reduced the number ...