NEW YORK, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Software company SAS topped an annual list of best companies to work for, offering top-notch benefits and enjoying low turnover, Fortune said on Thursday.

Ranking second was Edward Jones, investment advisers based in St. Louis, which weathered the recession without closing an office or laying off an employee, said the Fortune business magazine and web site.

Rounding out the top five were Wegmans Food Markets of Rochester, New York; Google of Mountain View, California; and Nugget Market, of Woodland, California, it said.

All 100 companies on the list told Fortune they are currently hiring, amounting to some 96,000 positions expected this year, Fortune said. All the companies are based in the United States except the Four Seasons hotel chain, which is based in Canada, Fortune said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Software company SAS topped an annual list of best companies to work for, offering top-notch benefits and enjoying low turnover, Fortune said on Thursday.

Ranking second was Edward Jones, investment advisers based in St. Louis, which weathered the recession without closing an office or laying off an employee, said the Fortune business magazine and web site.

Rounding out the top five were Wegmans Food Markets of Rochester, New York; Google of Mountain View, California; and Nugget Market, of Woodland, California, it said.

All 100 companies on the list told Fortune they are currently hiring, amounting to some 96,000 positions expected this year, Fortune said. All the companies are based in the United States except the Four Seasons hotel chain, which is based in Canada, Fortune said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – If you’re willing to undress in front of someone in a relationship, you should be able to undress financially as well, say the authors of a new book.

Money can be one of the most difficult subjects for couples to talk about, and “Get Financially Naked” aims to help them share not only details of their finances but also their thoughts, attitudes and fears about money.

“People feel this intense feeling of shame around money,” said co-author Manisha Thakor, stemming from people feeling judged by how much they earn, how much they know about finances and how they handle their money.

The steep recession and dire job market has been a blessing in disguise that has pushed couples and families to talk about money, she told Reuters in an interview.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Being an actuary, calculating statistics to determine probability and risk, is the best job to have in 2010, while working on an oil rig as a roustabout is the worst, according to a study released on Tuesday.

An actuary earns about $85,000 a year and has few physical demands, little stress, a good work environment and a positive outlook for employment and income growth, said CareerCast.com, a job search site that analyzed 200 jobs in North America.

The second-best job is software engineer, followed by computer systems analyst, biologist and historian, said CareerCast.com, which rated jobs in terms of stress, working environment, physical demands, income and hiring outlook.

Being a roustabout was rated the worst, followed by lumberjack, ironworker, dairy farmer and welder, it said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Being an actuary, calculating statistics to determine probability and risk, is the best job to have in 2010, while working on an oil rig as a roustabout is the worst, according to a study released on Tuesday.

An actuary earns about $85,000 a year and has few physical demands, little stress, a good work environment and a positive outlook for employment and income growth, said CareerCast.com, a job search site that analyzed 200 jobs in North America.

The second-best job is software engineer, followed by computer systems analyst, biologist and historian, said CareerCast.com, which rated jobs in terms of stress, working environment, physical demands, income and hiring outlook.

Being a roustabout was rated the worst, followed by lumberjack, ironworker, dairy farmer and welder, it said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More stringent screening launched on Monday for airline passengers from 14 nations, part of a crackdown after the botched Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound flight, are ineffective and unconstitutional, civil liberty groups charged.

The tighter security measures, which range from passengers being patted down to advanced explosives detection and full-body scans, constitute racial profiling when there is no realistic way to predict the national origin of a potential attacker, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The measures announced by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration affect passengers arriving from Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — nations listed as “state sponsors of terrorism” — as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

“Every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening,” the TSA said.

NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) – More stringent screening launched on Monday for airline passengers from 14 nations, part of a crackdown after the botched Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound flight, are ineffective and unconstitutional, civil liberty groups charged.

The tighter security measures, which range from passengers being patted down to advanced explosives detection and full-body scans, constitute racial profiling when there is no realistic way to predict the national origin of a potential attacker, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The measures announced by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration affect passengers arriving from Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — nations listed as “state sponsors of terrorism” — as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

“Every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening,” the TSA said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Hillary Clinton made a strong showing and Sarah Palin was named to the Republican ticket in the 2008 U.S. presidential race, the election of the first female president seemed not so far off.

Not so fast, writes the author of “Notes from the Cracked Ceiling,” a book released this week that explores why Clinton and Palin lost, what role gender played in their candidacies and what it would take for a woman to win the U.S. presidency.

Author Anne Kornblut argues that Clinton and Palin were at a particular disadvantage because they were women and that a number of hurdles will need to be cleared before a woman succeeds in winning the White House.

“I don’t think it’s automatically right around the corner,” Kornblut, who covers politics and the White House for the Washington Post, said in an interview. “Some people do and think, ‘Well we elected an African-American. We’re obviously able to do it.’

NEW YORK (Reuters) – 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.

One-fifth of employers plan to add full-time, permanent employees next year, up from 14 percent in 2009, according to CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site that surveyed more than 2,700 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

Just 9 percent said they plan to cut head count in 2010, down from 16 percent in 2009, according to the nationwide survey.

“There’s definitely an uptick. The number of employers who say they’re going to add full-time workers is up from last year, and that is very good news,” said Michael Erwin, senior career advisor at CareerBuilder.

NEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) – 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.

One-fifth of employers plan to add full-time, permanent employees next year, up from 14 percent in 2009, according to CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site that surveyed more than 2,700 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

Just 9 percent said they plan to cut head count in 2010, down from 16 percent in 2009, according to the nationwide survey.

“There’s definitely an uptick. The number of employers who say they’re going to add full-time workers is up from last year, and that is very good news,” said Michael Erwin, senior career advisor at CareerBuilder.