That is great to hear! Overall the economy seems to be continuing to improve and I am glad to hear the minimum wage seems to be slowly raising.

Employment in my area is doing good and Wal Mart is raising their minimum wage to $11 an hour for new employees. Established employees will be getting a one time bonus based on their years of employnent. Of course, the Sams Club in our area is closing, but aside from that,things are going good.

We're experiencing lower unemployment, but wages aren't rising and companies aren't offering greater benefits. The jobs that are increasing are mostly in the service industry, which is notorious for low pay. Prices at the grocery store aren't going down. Interest hasn't increased on savings accounts. I haven't noticed things getting better, but maybe it's just my area of the U.S.

I hate to admit this, but we seem to be pulling out of the recession with interest rates rising, lower unemployment, more new jobs, and keeping our companies from outsourcing jobs to other countries, our outlook seems much brighter than it was. Does anyone have any other information on this topic?