Flip-Floppers

It seems that people just can’t make up their minds about the U.S. employment outlook. In a survey of more than 8,000 consumers, BIGresearch reports that in December, fewer respondents — 31.3% versus November’s 33.0% — predicted that layoffs would increase in the next six months. But more consumers (49.5% last month versus 44.6% in November) said the rate would remain the same. And the December folks were slightly more worried about their own jobs — 5.9% were concerned about being laid off, up from 5.5% in November.

Risky Business

Go global by all means, but don’t take online orders from Nigeria! That country is the “riskiest” for e-commerce, meaning that orders from there are highly likely to be fraudulent, according to 348 merchants surveyed by CyberSource Corporation. Following Nigeria, with 31% of mentions, were Indonesia (8%), Russia (6%), China (5%), and the U.K. and Afghanistan (4% each). Within the U.S., New York City (26%) is the riskiest place for e-commerce, followed by Miami (10%), Los Angeles (9%), Chicago and Detroit (3%), and San Francisco (2%).

Up the Ladder

Talk about moving from back room to boardroom — IT heads have rapidly gained the ear of top management. Most CIOs at companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue now report directly to the CEO, a big shift from two years ago, according to a study by the Society for Information Management. The survey of nearly 250 senior IT leaders found that 55% of the CIOs at smaller companies report to the CEO and 23% to the CFO; back in 2002, both segments were equal, at 41% each.

On the Job

Unhappy in your current position? You’d do well to set your sights on the VP of Logistics slot. The median salary for that job, reports a survey by the Warehousing Education and Research Council, is $147,625, with a bonus of 10%; if you’re lucky enough to fall at the top end of the range — $200,000 or more — you could take home a bonus as high as 33%. But not every warehouse worker is as fortunate. Supervisors, for instance, make a maximum of only $57,973, with their median salary coming in at an appallingly low $42,873.