Sectors that are showing job growth - engineering, aerospace and the oil and gas industries - require specialised skills, and these haven't seen a rise in the number of applications.

BBC: Unemployment set to rise in 2012, suggests CIPD

Chuck Eastlake, a professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, said the technology for the reinforcements seems to be relatively basic.

CNN: Airlines move swiftly to secure cockpits

She said JW Kane was one of Northern Ireland's "foremost aerospace-focused precision engineering companies".

BBC: Arlene Foster and Damian McArdle

The MARSballoon project, which was organised by Bristol-based aerospace company Systems Engineering and Assessment (SEA), involved six local schools and two universities, and was aimed at helping the students take an interest in a career in the UK space industry.

BBC: Space capsules sent from Somerset school go missing

Very similar to the famous Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the six-wheeled bot created by a team at Shanghai Aerospace System Engineering Institute is capable of cruising around the Moon at a reported 100 meters per hour, all the while snapping photos and collecting bits of moon rock for analysis and possible sale on eBay.

ENGADGET: Chinese engineers reveal nuclear-powered lunar rover

Companies represented here today are moving forward with a series of major trade and investment deals that will create jobs for both Americans and Russians across many sectors, from aerospace, to automotive engineering, to the financial sector and high-technology.

WHITEHOUSE: U.S.-Russia Business Summit