"WASHINGTON-President Barack Obama's first official economic report to Congress predicts lackluster employment growth this year and next, even after including the impact of a jobs bill whose prospects appeared uncertain in the Senate."

"People in the midst of a career reinvention don't have the luxury of a manager who sets priorities for them. The most difficult part of making a career change is starting it, especially with only your desire to propel you. As an independent filmmaker, Adrian Belic, 40 years old, is accustomed to making things happen. The first film he made with his brother, "Genghis Blues," won a Sundance award and received an Academy Award nomination. But despite this success, he found it difficult to get a second project off the ground."

"For a lot of small-business owners, "cloud computing" is the latest IT buzzword to leave them scratching their heads. To demystify things, here's a primer for companies looking to wade into cloud services for the first time. What are cloud services?"

"The unemployment rate dropped sharply last month, but employers continued cutting jobs in January as businesses remained insecure about the economic outlook. The jobless rate fell to 9.7% from 10% in December, the Labor Department said Friday, because its survey of households found more people landed jobs than entered or returned to the labor market. But a separate survey of employers, which counts how many workers are added or cut from payrolls, found that 20,000 jobs were eliminated last month. And revisions to last year's data found far more jobs were lost over the 12 months than previously predicted."

"Today, with unemployment rates hovering at 10%, and all our worries about the job market rooted in the moment, we are in danger of failing to see an important longer-term trend: More Americans are working as consultants or freelancers, either having given up or been forced out of the salaried world of 9 to 5."

"Like many workers, Ivelisse Rivera, a physician at Community Health Center, Middletown, Conn., feels stressed-out by mounting workloads. And she didn't expect to get much help during her employer's annual staff meeting last November-just the usual speeches on medical issues."

"For years, higher education was touted as a safe path to professional and financial success. Easy money, in the form of student loans, flowed to help parents and students finance degrees, with the implication that in the long run, a bachelor's degree was a good bet. Graduates, it has long been argued, would be able to build solid careers that would earn them far more than their high-school educated counterparts."

"There's been no shortage of warnings about the career dangers of posting racy content on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yet many job hunters still don't heed that advice, and others don't realize they're doing just as much damage by doing things like bending the truth or spamming their résumés. Recruiters say such faux-pas can result in immediate and lasting career damage."

"You messed up a job search, making a faux pas during an interview or handling a turndown badly. But you probably don't realize that your mistake, exacerbated by the tight job market, could harm your long-term prospects. "

"A new study shows a large gap in perceptions among the sexes in who has more opportunities for advancement-men or women."

"When Margaret Tahyar was a teenager, she spent her free time working as a carhop for the local Big Boy Restaurant in Rochester, Michigan. As far from law as waiting on car patrons may be, Ms. Tahyar says the job prepared her well for her current position as a partner in the Financial Institutions Group at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell."

"As talk of a thaw in hiring freezes rises above a whisper, many people are already planning to look for a new position when the job market picks up. "

"Ever wonder what exactly goes on behind the scenes when you apply for a job? While the recruiting process varies by industry, company and even department, the end result is the same: One person out of many receives an offer. "

"Heather Logrippo says her employees didn't seem too enthusiastic at first when she handed out construction paper and crayons and told them to find a quiet place for 30 minutes."

"A new Conference Board study shows that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work -- the lowest level recorded in the 22 years this report has existed."

"NBC made two critical missteps six years ago when the network signed Mr. O'Brien to replace Mr. Leno in 2009, say management consultants. It's a bad idea to promise someone a promotion in order to retain him, they say, and so is naming a successor too far in advance. "

"With prospects for new jobs or promotions still looking grim, many workers are struggling to take their careers to the next level. Some, though, have found ways to cope and make themselves more marketable for when companies start hiring again."

How the Great Recession Reshaped the U.S. Job Market

Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don't exist anymore.

Many workers who lost jobs in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy are now looking to change careers. But crafting a résumé that shows the benefits of hiring an industry outsider can be challenging.