They are working on everything from road and metro construction to an industrial clustering program, export training and information, business incubators and changing governmental industrial policy.

FORBES: Curfew In The Favela

Similar clocks are found throughout Delhi Metro's offices and construction sites.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

Instead of moping, he took one of the first paying jobs he could find: unskilled labor on construction sites in the metro New York area.

FORBES: Why Immigrants Make Better Entrepreneurs

When Athens was preparing to host the 2004 Summer Olympics, construction of the underground metro encountered so many archaeological significant sites that delays lasted for years.

BBC: Living in: Great cities for history and ancient ruins

The HS2 line probably won't be comparable with the painstaking efforts made during the construction of the Athens Metro, but if HS1 is anything to go by, the archaeological considerations could still be huge.

BBC: HS2: 20 reasons why it can take 20 years to build a railway

For years, we've seen jobs suburbanize in regions across the country, so move away from city centers and further out into metro regions and jobs that pay lower wages, like construction or retail, are among the most suburbanized, and so is manufacturing, which is an industry that's been hit really hard over the last decade.

NPR: Poverty, Still Coming To A Suburb Near You

This month, for example, the boss of Caracas's metro system announced a review of a new line already under construction, with the probable scrapping of two stations.

ECONOMIST: Hard times on the streets of Caracas