The construction of a nuclear power plant will create new Virginia jobs.

The French nuclear-support firm Areva and Northrop Grumman Newport News are teaming up to build a plant that makes components for holding nuclear plants’ dangerous and useful fuel. Creation of the plant is expected to create 540 jobs in Virginia.

Gov. Tim Kaine praised the $363.4 million project as “a positive step toward reducing greenhouse gases and reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” according to an article by The Free Lance-Star.

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The approval of many new clean energy projects should create several Pennsylvania construction jobs.

The State of Pennsylvania recently announced it would invest $12 million in alternative clean energy projects that will create about 1,200 full-time and part-time jobs. The projects, approved by the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, are expected to garner $118 million in private investments, according to an article by Market Watch.

“We are investing in Pennsylvania businesses and organizations that are committed to the development of clean-burning home-grown fuels and renewable energy sources,” Governor Rendell said in the article. “The investment in innovative technologies and energy efficiency will help drive energy costs down, provide affordable energy, create good-paying, green jobs in communities throughout the state and reduce our dependence on foreign fuel.”

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While the current possibility of an economic recession has many Americans losing sleep, a new study finds that a recession could actually result in more Washington D.C. government jobs.

Many Americans, whether tied to Wall Street or not, are worried about their futures as 401K plans are unstable, foreclosures are abundant and both big cities and small towns are trying to adapt to this new market. Businessweek recently published an article on a study it completed, with data from PolicyMap, to determine the best places to live during a recession. In most of these places, the majority of the population works in government, healthcare, education, agriculture and legal services.

Washington D.C. came in as the second best place to live during a recession, behind Arlington, Va. In recent months, the economy has continued to add more jobs to Washington’s workforce.

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Many people are still looking for Maryland jobs.

In August, Maryland had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, up from 4.3 percent in July. Currently, more than 135,000 Maryland residents are looking for jobs they can’t find, 30 percent more than this time last year. This news comes despite the fact that Maryland employers are adding jobs. The state added 1,800 jobs during August, mostly from the private sector, according to an article by the Baltimore Sun.

Many industries are losing jobs as the housing market continues to plummet and credit crunch worsens. While Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group recently had to sell itself, some businesses are continuing to thrive.

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Medical jobs in Virginia are continuing to grow.

As of August 2008, Virginia’s education and health services industry employed 431,200 workers, an increase of 2.5 percent from last year, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This industry has seen an over-the-year increase every month this year, by 2.4 percent in March, by 2.3 percent in April, by 2.4 percent in May, by 2.7 percent in June, by 2.7 percent in July and by 2.5 percent in August.

According to the Virginia Workforce Connection, there were 344,320 jobs in Virginia’s healthcare and social services industry in 2006, and is projected to employ 451,823 workers by 2016. This represents an increase of 107,503 jobs, a growth of 2.75 percent annually or 31.2 percent total.

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