Australia Vows to Create 50,000 "Green" Jobs

Australia's prime minister promised Thursday to create 50,000 “green” jobs and apprenticeships to combat climate change and unemployment simultaneously.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has prioritized environmental legislation this year even as his government forecast that Australian unemployment would rise to 8.5 per cent next year from the current 5.8 per cent because of the global downturn.

The government I lead will not stand idly by while thousands of young Australians have their hopes crushed by a global recession not of their own making,” Mr. Rudd told a conference of his Labor Party.

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Source: The Globe and Mail News, 2009-07-31, Link