Traffic technicians spend most of their time conducting field studies under the direction of a traffic engineer. They conduct studies to determine traffic volume, speed, the effectiveness of traffic signals, the adequacy of traffic lights, and any other factors that might influence traffic conditions.

Most employers in Colorado prefer applicants for traffic technician jobs to have at least bachelor's degree and some short-term on-the-job training, but not all employers enforce these requirements, according to the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment.

As positions for traffic technicians are relatively new, there are few workers throughout Colorado, but available positions will steadily grow during the near future. Employment is expected to increase from 86 workers during 2009 to 97 workers by 2019, accounting for 11 additional jobs and an average annual growth rate of 1.2 percent.

During 2009, the average wage for traffic technicians in Colorado was $23.70 per hour or $49,286 per year, while the average entry-level wage was $18.13 per hour or $37,711 per year and the average experienced-level wage was $26.26 per hour or $54,628 per year.

Some related occupations include: cost estimators; mathematicians; mathematical technicians; civil drafters; fabric and apparel patternmakers; medical appliance technicians; transportation vehicle, equipment and systems inspectors, except aviation; and freight and cargo inspectors.

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents recently approved plans for the Thirty Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea. Once approved by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the project will make Hawaii home to the world's most advanced and capable astronomical observatory.

Although there was previously some concern as to whether the TMT would damage Mauna Kea's summit, the project has already been approved by the Mauna Kea Management Board, UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng, and UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, and Gov. Linda Lingle accepted the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

"The Thirty Meter Telescope will take us on an exciting journey of astronomical discovery, and the benefits that will flow from the project will go far beyond scientific results," Greenwood said. "University of Hawaii scientists will be full participants in all aspects of this TMT journey, while the capital investment and jobs created by the project will boost the state's economy and provide for local educational and workforce development programs.

"I know that the university's important responsibility of ensuring good stewardship of this special site for future generations has been of utmost priority throughout the process, and it will continue to be our focus as we work closely with the community and all stakeholders involved with the management of Mauna Kea."

The TMT is an international partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy. The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is a collaborating institutions, while the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and India are observers of the project.

Representatives from these institutions have already visited Hawaii to meet with many people about the project, including local schools, labor unions, Native Hawaiian groups, and local officials. This helped to gain a sense of the community's concerns and interests.

"We believe this partnership will benefit the Big Island and Hawaii in so many ways, with jobs, the economy, workforce development, education, the environment, culture, and of course, science," Dr. Henry Yang, chancellor of UC Santa Barbara and chair of the TMT Board of Directors, said. "The world-class stature of astronomical education and research of the University of Hawaii on all its campuses statewide will benefit, and discoveries made by this telescope will benefit not only the international science community, but all of humankind."

IBM has announced that it will hire 600 new employees in Oregon as a result of the company's recent acquisition of Beaverton-based Wilshire Credit Corporation, which will allow IBM to introduce a new mortgage software. The company chose Oregon over Charlotte, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla. for its new operations.

"We were very pleased," Jill Miles, national recruitment officer for the State of Oregon, told The Oregonian. "When you get something like this, everything else goes by the wayside and this is your focus, because the return to the state is so great."

IBM already has a campus in Beaverton, which houses the company's Linux Technology Center and other software development work. The company currently employs about 650 workers at the Beaverton campus, while Wilshire employs about 710 workers in the state, with half located in Salem. About 90 of the new IBM jobs will be located in Salem as well.

IBM has not yet revealed when the new workers will be hired, but local and state officials say training could begin as early as this month. The new employees are expected to earn average salaries between $35,000 per year and $50,000 per year.

The company will receive $300,000 from the State of Oregon and $50,000 from the City of Beaverton for worker training. IBM plans to spend about $8 million on capital improvements and $4 million to train new and existing employees.

The most recent Innovation Report from Connect found that 51 technology start-up companies were formed in San Diego County during Q1 2010. Although that number doesn't seem low, it's 21 percent below the number of tech start-ups created during Q1 2009, and a 31 percent decrease from Q4 2009.

Throughout California as a whole, 442 new tech companies were created during Q1 2010, which is a 37 percent decrease from Q4 2009. San Diego County accounted for 13 percent of new technology businesses throughout the state at the beginning of this year, placing it third, after Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties.

"There appears to be a fairly consistent pattern in start-up formation," Kelly Cunningham, economist and senior fellow at the National University System Institute for Policy Research, said. "The first quarter of the year shows a decrease in number of start-ups and ends up being the lowest quarter of the year. This is most likely a seasonal variation due in part to potentially higher tax liabilities incurred in establishing a new business in the first quarter. The decrease in the first quarter of 2010 is due more to this seasonal variation than to the economic and financial environment."

The companies formed at the beginning of this year are responsible for creating more than 140 jobs in San Diego County. And while the tech industry accounts for only 6 percent of employers and 11 percent of jobs in the county, it makes up more than 25 percent of all payrolls, as tech companies pay 80 percent higher salaries than the overall average.

The industries responsible for creating tech companies during Q1 2010 include:

• Software at 31 percent
• Pharma, bio and medical devices at 31 percent
• Communications at 20 percent
• Computer and electronics at 6 percent
• Recreational goods at 6 percent
• Environmental at 4 percent
• Defense and transportation at 2 percent

Jiang Zhaobai, a real estate mogul and chairman of Shanghai-based PengXin Group, is looking to purchase minority interests in technology companies throughout Washington. Zhaobai, who is planning a visit to Seattle in September, would then help those companies enter the Chinese market.

"One of our highest priorities is to attract more of the this kind of foreign investment from China, that will add value, jobs and wealth to this region, as opposed to companies that buy technology and customer lists, and move back to China," Joe Borich, executive director of the Washington State China Relations Council, told the Pudget Sound Business Journal.

Zhaobai is particularly hoping to invest in green energy, mobile telecommunications, medical devices and environmental technologies in Washington state and the San Diego area.

Sierra Asia Partners Lt. is helping Zhaobai in his efforts. The consulting group, which helps American companies operate in China, recently opened an office Seattle. It also has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Seattle and San Francisco.

One reason state officials are being so supportive of Zhaobai's interest is because he's planning to invest in Washington companies instead of completely taking them over. Essentially, this would mean Zhaobai would make a strong effort to protect the intellectual property of those companies once they expand into the Chinese market.

"If he was just going to buy their IP and take it over to China, I don't think that would represent a high priority for us to facilitate that," Rogers Weed, director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, said. "If he wants his investments to succeed, he's going to have to have a model of intellectual protection his companies will be comfortable with."

According to a recent article from The Arizona Republic, applications have been submitted for more than 80 solar power and wind power plans throughout the state, which together are valued at tens of billions of dollars. If approved, those projects would create thousands of jobs and bring in an unprecedented amount of revenue and other economic benefits.

Of the 80 proposed solar and wind projects in Arizona, all the solar plants together would produce 13,622 megawatts of power, while all of the wind plants together would produce 9,194 megawatts of power.

That power will be much needed, as the Arizona Public Service Company expects the peak demand to reach 7,059 megawatts this summer, while the APS and Salt River Project systems expect to see a peak demand for 13,449 megawatts of power. At the same time, the megawatt capacity of Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is only 4,000.

However, many of the companies looking to bring their alternative energy solutions to Arizona are waiting on the state to implement new high-voltage transmission lines, which are necessary for companies to get their energy to customers. Developers and utilities throughout the state are still debating on where those lines will be located and who will pay to put them in.

The Salt River Project reports that alternative energy developers are looking to use about 70 parcels of Arizona land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Arizona State Land Department, while the remainder of the projects will take place on private or tribal lands.

While companies are keeping tight-lipped about the details of specific projects until they are finalized, records show some well-known names are jumping on board, including France-based Areva, Spain-based Iberdrola Renewables, Tempe-based First Solar Inc., and Florida Power & Light Company.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently announced that the Microsoft 2011 Worldwide Partner Conference will be held from July 10 to 14 in Los Angeles. Microsoft chose Los Angeles because of the city's world-class conference facilities, hotels, restaurants and entertainment.

"Hosting this banner event for the global technology community is a major win for Los Angeles and an important boost for our local economy," Villaraigosa said. "We look forward to welcoming Microsoft and its partners to LA next summer, and showing them the best of what this world-class city has to offer."

The event is expected to attract more than 640,000 worldwide business partners who sell, customize, build upon, implement and support Microsoft solutions. Between 12,000 and 15,000 attendees from more than 120 countries are expected to stay in Los Angeles.

Those guests should need more than 50,000 hotel rooms throughout Los Angeles and bring in $45 million in attendee spending alone. It's anticipated that about 40 hotels in Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, West Los Angeles and the Los Angeles International Airport area will be impacted. The convention will be the largest in the history of Los Angeles.

"LA is a dynamic, exciting city that inspires creativity and innovation," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. "It's an ideal setting for our global community of 15,000 partners from 120 countries to share their ideas and energy for technology and business opportunities in the years ahead. We look forward to furthering our long, rewarding relationship with the city and community and are sure our partners and employees will make the most of their time in LA."

Los Angeles has had a longstanding relationship with Microsoft, which has:

• Donated $19 million in cash, software, curriculum and volunteer time to organizations such as Goodwill Southern California, Los Angeles Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, Los Angeles Urban League, Puente Learning Center and Magic Johnson Foundation.
• Added billions of dollars to the local economy and supported tens of thousands of jobs through the Microsoft Widows 7 partner ecosystem, which will bring more than $5.5 billion in revenue to the local IT industry and give more than $19 to partners for every $1 of revenue generated for Microsoft.
• Maintained strategic, long-range research partnerships with many local universities.

General Electric recently announced that it will locate the company's $15 million Smart Grid Center of Excellence in Cobb County and create 400 new high-paying jobs. The project is part of a move to establish the metro Atlanta area as a focal point for the green energy industry.

The new employees will conduct research and development, as well as application engineering. The SGCE will be home to the world headquarters of GE's new Digital Energy business, a smart grid engineering laboratory, and an exhibition area showing how a smart grid works.

The project is being funded by two U.S. Department of Energy grants - $649,903 to GE and $647,368 to Georgia Tech - as part of $100 million in funding to a group of companies and colleges to develop programs and train future employees, such as engineers, in smart grid technology.

"This is not just another headquarters," Hans Gant, senior vice president of economic development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It is a headquarters for a new industry that could really position Atlanta and Georgia as a leader in that sector nationally and worldwide. "

GE will benefit from Georgia's quality jobs tax credit and will be eligible for $9 million in tax credits during the next five years. The company already has a presence in the area, with about 2,300 employees in metro Atlanta and about 5,300 employees throughout Georgia. GE Energy and GE Technology Infrastructure are both headquartered in the state.

A smart grid is used to create a more direct and efficient digital technology system that distributes electricity to consumers. Advocates say such a system can better regulate power demand and supply, and offers benefits, such as quicker restoration of electricity after outages.

Long-term, smart grids may allow consumers to choose their power source from traditional and alternative fuels, and allow motorists to refuel electric vehicles overnight. In addition, any unneeded power would be returned to the system for future use.

State and local officials hope that more companies in the smart grid sector will want to locate in Atlanta because of GE's presence and because of local support for the industry's suppliers, vendors and competitors.

"(The center) supports our state's strategic growth as a global leader in the energy sector," Gov. Sonny Perdue said. "The solutions that will be developed at the Smart Grid Technology Center of Excellence not only benefit GE Energy’s customers, but will also serve as a model for smart and responsible energy production throughout this industry."

Check out this recruiting video for GE:

Unisys Corporation recently announced that it will close the company's Austin location and lay off 229 employees beginning in June. According to information the company filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Unisys intends to shut down its Austin operations in phases, starting in June and ending in September.

"We have a managed service center in Austin that does IT support," Unisys Spokesman Jim Kerr told the Austin American-Statesman. "We are going to close that effective Sept. 30 and move that work to our other centers in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Rochester, N.Y."

Pennsylvania-based Unisys provides technology and information technology services. The company's job cuts will account for one of the biggest layoffs in Central Texas this year, and some of the affected employees - which will include tech support and help desk positions - will have the chance to transfer to other locations.

According to the Statesman, the last big layoff announcement in Central Texas came in January when BBVA Compass announced it would cut 279 jobs at the company's former headquarters. Even though the area continues to lose jobs as a whole, the rate of decline has slowed, and hiring has increased in some categories.

In addition, many new companies have already announced plans to move to Austin this year, and fast-growing tech companies like BazaarVoice have been hiring more aggressively this year.

RiseSmart, a company that provides Web-enabled outplacement (Visit http://outplacing.com to learn more) and job search services, recently launched Transition Concierge To-Go. The program is a mobile application that delivers personalized job leads and other job-search tools to the smartphones of the unemployed.

"Traditional outplacement providers still build their offerings around the outdated idea that laid-off employees should come to a physical office to attend seminars and be taught how to find a job," Sanjay Sathe, founder and CEO of RiseSmart, said. "Transition Concierge takes the opposite approach. We go where the employees are - and our new mobile app is a perfect example of this."

Transition Concierge To-Go is an extension of Transition Concierge 3.0, RiseSmart's next-generation outplacement offering that provides highly-personalized job leads to laid-off workers each week via an online interface. The mobile app is initially be available on BlackBerry devices, but will soon be available on the iPhone and Android-based phones.

Transition Concierge To-Go sends relevant job opportunities directly to workers' smartphones, enabling them to:

• See the latest job leads that match their skills and preferences.
• Tag jobs they like for follow-up.
• Send themselves a reminder to take action on a job lead.
• Review notifications for job-related Webinars and networking events.
• Contact a RiseSmart Transition Specialist via phone or e-mail with feedback or to request additional information.
• Review preferences, settings and favorites.

Transition Concierge 3.0 is different from traditional corporate outplacement offerings because it provides highly-personalized job leads to each employee on a weekly basis.

RiseSmart uses proprietary aggregation and semantic search technology to match each employee's job preferences against hundreds of thousands of active job listings across the Web. A specialist is then assigned to the employee's account to hone these results by hand, ensuring that only pertinent leads are delivered to each employee.