A week's worth

• So long, jobless recovery: The US created nearly 300,000 new jobs last quarter, more than economists expected, and enough to push October's unemployment rate down to 6 percent. Productivity for the same quarter also notched an 8.1 percent rise, the best showing in a year and a half. The only problem: A lot of those new jobs were part-time work or in poorly paid industries.

• Not that work-life balance: Don't pay personal bills at the office. According to a new survey from WorldWIT and E-Duction, 90 percent of professional women who handled more than five bills at work said they were moderately or considerably stressed about personal finances. Better than two-thirds of the women claiming to be financially stress-free do not pay any bills while at work.

• Business travelers, awake! In a first-of-its-kind study using NASA-type techniques, Hilton Hotels & Resorts found business travelers are far less productive than they think they are. Performance dropped 20 percent. During the trip, they lost a full night of sleep. But don't blame that hotel bed. The best night's sleep was the first hotel night. The worst? At home before the trip.

• If Junior can't afford State U: Fifty-four percent of grandparents surveyed by AIG SunAmerica plan to contribute to their grandchildren's college education - or have already done so. Nearly a third expect to shoulder up to 75 percent of the financial burden. Unfortunately, most don't know the tax-smart ways to do it. For example, nine out of 10 surveyed were unaware of the popular 529 education savings plans.