The expansion of a local biotech firm will create more Sarasota jobs.

Osprey Biotechnics Inc. recently announced that it will expand to a larger facility in Sarasota County and create an additional 35 positions during the next three years.

Osprey, which is based in the City of Sarasota, is a biotechnology company that manufactures beneficial bacterial products that promote animal health, plant health and environmental restoration.

The company currently employs 35 workers and its expansion marks the third expansion or relocation announced for Sarasota County during the last two months.

Osprey's new facility will be used to develop and launch the company's new fungal product line, which will be beneficial in promoting plant health through bio-pesticides that replace chemicals.

The Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County offered Osprey local performance-based incentives aimed at creating high-wage jobs. The EDC also helped the company apply for an incentive from Sarasota County that's based on creating jobs that exceed the average annual wage in the county.

"Offering incentives to grow jobs in Sarasota County allows us to boost the local economy by facilitating the expansion and relocation of companies in high-growth industries," Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Barbetta said.

Osprey joins a growing group of biotech firms in the area, including IntegraClick and Success Group International. All of the companies combined are expected to create a total of 240 jobs during the next few years.

One major movie rental store is cutting Dallas retail jobs.

Blockbuster Inc. recently announced that it will cut an unspecified number of jobs, including several executive positions, in an effort to reorganize the company's Dallas-based corporate staff.

Company spokeswoman Michelle Metzger told The Dallas Morning News that Blockbuster completed a realignment of resources at its corporate headquarters and distribution center in McKinney last week.

Blockbuster, which is the largest movie rental chain in the United States, laid off a "small fraction of its 3,000 employees in Dallas-Fort Worth" in an effort to continue optimizing resources.

As of late, the company has been closing some stores and adding kiosks through a joint venture with NCR Corporation, but has been losing market share to Netflix and Redbox.

"Consumers are finally embracing digital downloads as more television shows are made available for free on the Internet and new televisions, DVRs and video game players are equipped to receive movie downloads," The Dallas Morning News notes. "Blockbuster is participating in all those new formats, too, but it has more competition in the digital world."

One positive for Blockbuster - its largest competitor, Movie Gallery Inc., recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time since 2007. The company, which owns Hollywood Video, plans to close 805 stores, or about one-third of its total.

During December 2009, the Dallas-Plano-Irving area's unemployment rate increased from 7.9 percent to 8 percent, following a decrease from 8.3 percent during November. Despite the increase, the area's rate was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 10 percent, although that rate has now decreased to 9.7 percent.

The Dallas area had a total non-farm employment of 2,077,500 workers during December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,071,800 workers during November, but a 2 percent decrease from December 2008.

Thousands of Milwaukee construction jobs and other positions throughout Wisconsin will be created by federal funding for high-speed rail projects.

Gov. Jim Doyle recently announced that the State of Wisconsin will receive $823 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build a high-speed passenger rail service, a move that will help to create thousands of jobs.

"Through high-speed rail, President Obama is making a major investment in the future of Wisconsin's economy," Doyle said. "This is a major project that will create thousands of jobs in Wisconsin and invest in our long-term growth, connecting the major centers of commerce in Wisconsin and the Midwest.

"With the Obama Administration's support, Wisconsin is poised to be the nation's leader in high speed rail manufacturing," he continued. "This was a national competition and the results clearly demonstrate that we put forth a very strong application."

Of the funding Wisconsin is slated to receive, $810 million will be used to build high-speed passenger rail service between Milwaukee and Madison. That money will be used for construction of track, passenger stations, signaling and other infrastructure improvements.

Construction on this line is expected to begin by the end of this year and be completed by the beginning of 2013. Wisconsin will purchase two train sets from Spanish manufacturer Talgo.

However, Wisconsin plans to purchase two additional state-of-the-art train sets, which will be assembled and maintained in state. Eight new energy-efficient locomotives Wisconsin plans to purchase will be assembled in the United States.

In addition, $12 million will be used to install crossovers between Chicago and Milwaukee, which will improve service on this highly-popular route. That project alone is expected to create thousands of jobs in construction, engineering, design and supply firms.

The remaining $1 million in funding will go to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to make final determinations on a route between Wisconsin and the Twin Cities.

During the next 10 years, high-speed passenger rail in Wisconsin is expected to eliminate 7.8 million car trips, save 27.6 million gallons of fuel, eliminate about 270,000 tons of carbon emissions and create more livable communities with less congestion.

Those looking for a teaching career will find plenty of opportunities in the form of Denver education jobs.

The public primary and secondary education system is maintained by Denver Public Schools, which has an enrollment of about 73,000 students throughout the system's 73 elementary schools and 19 charter schools.

When it comes to higher education, there are many colleges and universities throughout the Denver area. The city is home to everything from Roman Catholic and Jewish institutions to a health sciences school. There also are several colleges and universities located throughout the greater Denver metro area.

The best-known private higher education institutions within the City of Denver itself include: the University of Denver, Johnson & Wales University and Regis University.

The most reputable public higher education institutions within the city include: the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and Community College of Denver.

The people of Denver as a whole are well-educated. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 78.9 percent of those 25-years and older in the city have a high school diploma, while 34.5 percent have at least a bachelor's degree.

Fortunately, the education industry throughout Denver and Colorado as a whole has continued to thrive despite the economic recession, adding jobs on a monthly and yearly basis.

The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area's education and health services industry employed 139,300 workers during November 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 138,700 workers during October and a 2.4 percent increase from November 2008.

As a whole, Colorado's education and health services industry employed 261,000 workers during November, up from 260,200 workers during October and a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year.

If you're considering a future career as a personal assistant, it's important to gain the proper personal assistant training.

Personal assistants are typically hired by professionals and celebrities to perform a variety of services, such as plan events, schedule appointments, read mail, update Web sites, shop, babysit and manage finances.

While no formal personal assistant training is required to become a personal assistant, receiving the proper training can greatly increase your chances of securing a job.

Some companies offer personal assistant training. You also can take courses in computers, event planning and personal finance from a local college if you're looking to receive training in a specific area.

According to an article by Education-Portal.com, the best personal assistant training is often gained through work experience. A good experience can provide you the opportunity to improve in personal finance, estate management, organization and event planning.

Some skills you should learn through training and work experience include: event planning, time management, organization, communication, computer, crisis management and problem solving.

What you will face once you've completed your training depends on the career path you choose. Entry level personal assistants often perform more administrative tasks, while experienced personal assistants perform more information and technology management tasks and fewer clerical responsibilities.

Fortunately, personal assistants can expect to see large job growth during the near future, as the position is needed in nearly all types of corporate, nonprofit, government and educational settings.

The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the median annual salary for assistants or secretaries is more than $37,000. However, personal assistants have the capability to earn much more with the proper education, training, certification and experience.

The U.S. Census Bureau is offering flexible jobs to local residents in Peoria and throughout Illinois.

The organization is recruiting temporary, part-time census takers for the 2010 census. The positions available offer good pay, flexible hours and paid training.

The Bureau has undertaken a nationwide effort to help locate households and conduct brief, personal interviews with residents.

About 1 million people throughout the country will be hired under the initiative. The majority of the positions involve going door-to-door to interview residents.

The jobs could last through 2010 and some employees could eventually be sent to other communities to complete additional counting.

Those chosen for the positions will earn between $10.25 and $16.50 per hour. Employees can choose to work during the evening or during weekends.

In order to qualify, applicants must be able to read, write and speak English, as well as be at least 18-years old, be a U.S. citizen, have a valid driver's license and have a clean criminal background.

Applicants also must take a pre employment test, which includes a written test designed to measure knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform a variety of Census jobs.

The purpose of the 2010 census is to determine the distribution of about $400 billion in federal funds to be distributed each year to state and local governments.

Of those funds, about $14 billion are distributed throughout Illinois each year. Peoria receives about $135 per person based on census figures, but researchers predict that the state will lose about $12,000 for each uncounted person during the next 10 years.

"With so much at stake in the 2010 census and with elevated nationwide unemployment, the job opportunities offered by the Census Bureau are particularly valuable for Peoria," Peoria City Councilman Ryan Spain, chairman of the 2010 Peoria Complete Count committee, told the Peoria Journal Star.

According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the Peoria metropolitan area currently has an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent.

Several new State of Oregon jobs (Click here) could be created during the next decade.

State economists have predicted that 163,000 new jobs will be created in Oregon by 2018, with 11,000 of those jobs to be in Central Oregon.

Jobs in the three counties that make up Central Oregon, including Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook, are expected to grow faster than any other part of Oregon.

It is expected that jobs in Central Oregon will increase by 14 percent from 2008 to 92,340 jobs, compared to a statewide growth rate of 9 percent.

"Over the last 10 years, Central Oregon has grown tons faster than the state," Carolyn Eagan, a regional economist in Central Oregon, told The Bulletin. "There was nothing to me that would indicate that wouldn't happen after the recession."

There is no question whether or not Central Oregon could benefit from the additional jobs, as the area accounts for some of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

During September, Deschutes and Jefferson counties had unemployment rates of 15.9 percent, while Crook county had an unemployment rate of 19.7. These were all significantly higher than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.8 percent.

Throughout Central Oregon, the education and health services industry is expected to grow the most, increasing by 2,900 jobs, or 29 percent, to about 13,000 jobs by 2018. The professional and business services industry and the food and beverage industry are both expected to grow by about 18 percent.

The manufacturing; government; leisure and hospitality; and trade, transportation and utilities industries are expected to grow by 9 to 14 percent.

The construction industry, which has been hit harder than most others during the recession, is expected to only grow by 1 percent. The information industry is the only one expected to decline by 2018.

As the economy slowly begins to recover and companies begin to rehire workers, more employers are opting to use recruitment outsourcing.

RPO, or recruitment process outsourcing, is a good option for companies that have enough money to hire new workers but not enough money to employ a fully staffed human resources department. RPO is especially popular right now, as HR departments are often the first things cut during tough economic times.

One RPO company, Ohio-based The RightThing, has reported seeing a surge of activity during the last 90 days. The company has secured more than 11 new deals with leading companies, including Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, NCR and Micron Technology, Inc.

In addition, the RightThing has seen a 30 percent increase in client prospects and an increase in hiring activity with current clients.

"Since the recruiting department is often the first area where cuts are made in times of recession, many companies are now faced with a significantly reduced recruiting function," The RightThing CEO Terry Terhark said. "Now with the realization that they may need to start hiring again, many are turning to RPO which can offer increased quality and scalability with lower costs."

Obviously, increased hiring activity is a positive indicator of a soon-to-come economic upswing. Most RPO companies are seeing increases in clients in the research and development, retail, pharmaceutical, power and engineering and telecommunications industries.

The most popular available positions among those industries seem to be for merchandisers, sales representatives, scientific specialties, technicians, call center representatives, power engineers and managers.

"Many clients and prospects that have come to us in the past 90 days have indicated that they understand a strong talent pipeline is vital to their success as they plan their post-recession rebuild strategy," The RightThing President Jamie Minier said. "I'm extremely enthusiastic about the deals we are closing and believe these are encouraging signs of economic growth."

One outplacement firm is reporting that American employers are gradually beginning to hire workers, a sign that the economy could be improving.

A new survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers planned to hire 169,385 workers from January through September, which is an 88 percent increase from the same time period during 2008.

"Of course, these figures represent just a tiny fraction of the hiring and available jobs out there," CEO John Challenger said. "There is no doubt that this is a tight job market. However, it would be a mistake to assume that no one is hiring."

The survey found that the retail sector, which has been hit hard by the recession, planned to make the most hires. That industry planned to hire 33,640 workers during the nine month period, which is less than 4,000 hires during all of 2008.

The government and non-profit sectors planned to make the second-most hires by adding 28,469 workers. The entertainment and leisure industry followed, planning to make 22,370 workers.

"Within the hidden job market are companies that plan to fill positions through employee referrals, those that use recruiters to find the right candidates, as well as those that have no plans to hire, but will do so if the right person comes along," Challenger said. "The labor market is extremely fluid, even in the worst of times. Companies are constantly adding and subtracting workers, sometimes simultaneously."

These findings are somewhat surprising, given the fact that during September, the nation as a whole lost 263,000 jobs and saw its unemployment rate increase from 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since December 2007, when the recession began, the number of unemployed people throughout the country has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, while the unemployment rate has doubled, reaching its current rate of 9.8 percent.

Although the green industry has been touted as one full of entry level job opportunities, a new study has found that mid and high level green jobs are more in demand.

Green Dream Jobs recently released a report detailing the green job openings that were posted most frequently by employers and the cities in which those job openings originated.

From that research, the report found that the top 20 green job titles include:

"The leading job tiles show the breadth of green positions across the economy," Rona Fried, Ph.D., CEO of SustainableBusiness.com, said. "Most people think of energy auditing and renewable energy as green jobs, but leading nonprofit organizations are major employers, and people needed to run projects and analyze data are in demand, as well as those in sales and business development. Engineers are also in demand for renewable energy operations and even in this economy, we're still seeing many job openings in green building."

The report found the most frequently used keywords by job seekers looking for green jobs include: sustainability; climate change; wind, solar, construction manager; architectural designer; executive director; and, naturalist.

The report further found that the best city for green employment during the last year was Washington, D.C., followed by the San Francisco Bay area; New York; Seattle; Boston; Chicago; Portland, Ore.; and Burlington, Vt.

Overall, the report found that there are a wide variety of employment opportunities in many fields and for people of all skill levels, despite the fact that there have been fewer green job openings during the last year.

On top of that, job seekers can expect to see a surge in openings for various renewable energy related positions as the economy begins to recover from the current economic recession.

One HR software provider has seen an increased interest from higher education providers as of late.

Softscape, which provides what it calls "people management software," has seen accelerated world growth during the last year. Much of that growth is from well-known educational organizations, with the University of Notre Dame, The University of Virginia, the University of Minnesota and Monash University all choosing to use the company's software.

"Our goal here at the University of Minnesota was to deploy a set of consistent programs, policies and processes to more effectively manage performance and support employee development," Linda Bjornberg, director of University Services Human Resources at the University of Minnesota, said. "We needed the system to be robust enough to accommodate our unique needs, while matching and improving existing business rules. Softscape`s approach was the most complete and most flexible and their level of experience is helping us to achieve our goals."

Softscape customers have been most satisfied with the completeness of the software platform and the company's strong understanding of clients' business needs.

"With a 14 year proven history in people management, Softscape has a deep understanding of customer needs, especially within higher education institutions,"Dave Watkins, CEO and co-founder of Softscape, said. "Customers rely on our global expertise in deploying sophisticated people management software, and with the most HR functionality in a single software platform, Softscape customers are implementing long-term strategies to help drive their business performance."

As a whole, the demand for HR software that goes beyond traditional talent management continues to grow, in part because organizations now view the effective management of people as a strategic and critical element to their business.

"Educational organizations face the same economic realities as companies in other industries," Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focusing on enterprise learning and talent management, said. "In addition to dealing with staff reductions and doing more with less, educational organizations must consider compliance, cost containment, productivity improvement and leadership development. A scalable, flexible and comprehensive technology infrastructure is a requirement for effectively addressing these demands."

A recent survey from Softscape found that about 74 percent of HR leaders, 83 percent who work within large enterprises, think that complete people management is mission critical to their organization. Mission critical people management means being able to establish credible links between strategic HR processes and systems and the business results and outcome they drive.