Employer-based health coverage is disappearing faster in Pennsylvania than it is in any other state except Michigan, according to a study released by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. Since the turn of the century, there are 694,471 fewer people who receive their coverage from their employers across the state. The survey compared 2000 and 2001 to 2007 and 2008. Also, 201,425 fewer children are on their parents' benefits packages than there were seven years earlier, the study found.

Rates for 30-year home loans climbed to 5.03 percent this week, the third consecutive weekly increase. The average rate inched up from 5 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said yesterday. The last time the average was higher was the week of Sept. 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent. Rates had hovered below 5 percent for nearly a month until last week. They hit a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring.

A pool of $100,000 set aside by the Pittsburgh Foundation to match donations to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh was exhausted yesterday by 11 a.m. That means the deficit-plagued library system received at least $300,000 in total donations through the foundation's Match Day, launched on Wednesday. Donations made online via the foundation's PittsburghGives initiative were matched 50 cents on a dollar up to $10,000 per individual gift for the library. The event generated donations and matches totaling more than $1.2 million for nonprofits throughout the region, but final figures are not yet available, a foundation spokesman said.

Superior Well Services, Inc. has priced the 6 million shares in a new public offering at $10.50 per share, about a 5 percent discount from yesterday's $11.01 opening existing-share price.

General Motors Co. said yesterday its money-back guarantee was going so well it would extend the program into early 2010. ... Downtown ad agency Brunner named David Lied vice president, director of consumer promotional services, a new initiative to expand offerings in digital, creative package design and innovative shopper marketing strategies. Mr. Lied was founder and president of MatchPoint Marketing, a subsidiary of Acosta Sales. ... Evan Frazier, CEO and president of the Hill House Association in the Hill District, has resigned to take a job as senior vice president of community affairs at Highmark Inc., starting next year. ... Matthews International, the Pittsburgh producer of funeral-related products, announced yesterday that Alvaro Garcia-Tunon, chief financial officer and secretary for Wabtec Corp., was named to the Matthews board of directors.

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