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Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Health care cost worries women

Working women say they're most worried that the cost of health care is rising, that pay may not keep up with the cost of living and that retirement benefits are dwindling, a study released Monday by the AFL-CIO shows.

The report showed that:

Affordable medical coverage tops the list of concerns for working women, with 97 percent of respondents saying that they're nervous about the rising cost of quality health care.

And 95 percent of respondents said they are concerned about their pay staying in synch with the cost of living.

Retirement benefits are a major worry for 88 percent of working women.

Higher education costs, jobs going overseas and employment benefits are other key issues among working women.

Corporate board pay raises down

NEW YORK -- Pay to corporate directors grew last year at a slower rate than in 2004 as boards absorbed rules changes brought about by accounting scandals, a new study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting shows.

The study, released on Monday, said corporate directors received an average 6.1 percent increase in compensation in 2005, versus a 17.8 percent rise in 2004. That compares with a 5 percent boost for chief executives and an average 5.5 percent rise for workers at private companies across the nation last year.

As director pay raises grew less sharply, the median base salary for chief executives remained flat at $975,000 but total compensation increased through bonuses, according to a Mercer study released in April. The bonus emphasis reflects the greater effort to align compensation with profitability.

In the same period, pay for workers in the U.S. went up at a lower pace than pay for directors, but at a higher pace than increases for CEOs, according to quarterly census wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Interest rate up on 3-month T-bill

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction with the three-month bill climbing to the highest level since early 2001.

The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.990 percent, up from 4.975 percent last week. And it auctioned $16 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate that also hit 4.990 percent, the same as for the three-month bill and up from 4.975 percent last week.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 5.10 percent last week from 5.17 percent the previous week.

Wal-Mart revises salary structure

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is raising starting pay at about a third of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores by an average 6 percent and introducing wage caps for the first time on each type of job in all stores, the company said Monday.

The nation's largest private employer said the changes would help it remain competitive with other retailers and meet a need for workers and managers as it continues to expand.

Wal-Mart has more than 1.3 million U.S. employees, which it refers to as associates. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Chicago became the largest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay what city officials define as a ``living wage,'' despite objections from Wal-Mart and other businesses. Chicago's City Council adopted an ordinance requiring mega-retailers to pay at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010.

Mayor Richard M. Daley could veto the measure but would need two aldermen to change their position to avoid having his veto overridden.

Google inks deal with News Corp.

NEW YORK -- Google Inc. will be the exclusive search provider for News Corp.'s Web sites, including the popular social networking site MySpace.com, with the Web's leading search engine sharing at least $900 million in advertising revenue over three years.

Google will provide text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense network for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network.

The companies said they expect the integration of Google's services to begin in the fourth quarter 2006. Under the deal, Google will be obligated to make guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to Fox Interactive Media of $900 million based if Fox achieves certain milestones.