Good News, Workers | featured news

U.S. companies got slightly more out of their workers this spring after scaling back on hiring. The modest 1.6 percent annualized gain in productivity from April through June signals employers may need to hire more if demand picks up.

U.S. employers expect to hire more new workers in 2010 than they did in 2009, a sign the U.S. recession may be easing its grip, research showed on Tuesday.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless insurance hit a nine-month low last week and retailers reported their first monthly sales gain in over a year on Thursday, easing fears that recovery from recession would be unsustainable.

General Motors Co. will go to 24-hour operations at factories in Kansas, Michigan and Indiana to handle an expected increase in demand and to make up for production lost from a large-scale factory consolidation announced earlier in the year.

The automaker says it will add a third shift at its Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kan., in January.