A Week's Worth

• A modest gain in jobs pushed the unemployment rate down to 5 percent, the lowest rate since 2001. By adding 146,000 jobs last month, the economy signaled that it's continuing its long slow climb upward. Hiring in business and professional services jumped sharply, while manufacturing fell.

• Gas taxes: If your summer vacation involves a car, you'll be much better off driving in Georgia than Washington State. The former charges only 7.5 cents in state taxes for a gallon of gas; the latter, 31 cents. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have boosted their gas taxes in the past year, with most charging between 16 to 23 cents, says a CCH Tax and Accounting survey.

• Poorly governed corporations not only lack good oversight, they also fritter away excess cash more than do well-governed companies, say researchers at the universities of Michigan and Toronto.

• Impulse shoppers buy more when stores have pleasant music, while contemplative buyers open purses and wallets wider when lured with an aroma, say researchers at Rutgers and HEC Montreal. But don't combine the two, they caution, because that's when both kinds of shoppers tend to buy the least.