Its report said that in the oil industry, firms reported a shortage of pipe fitters, riggers and technicians.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Skilled workers 'harder to find'

However, after the 1996 capital gains tax cut got our economic pipe fitters working overtime, the Fed stood idly by while the our monetary water pressure fell.

FORBES: Watching With Horror As The U.S. Plumbs The Depths Of Austerity

William Hite, general president of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, says that while his union is "certainly concerned" about the potential for job losses, the mercury rule could also create thousands of jobs for workers who build and install pollution control equipment.

WSJ: EPA Tangles With New Critic: Labor

The union claims the move would lead to skilled workers, including electricians, pipe-fitters and plumbers, being forced to work on semi-skilled grades and losing up to a third of their pay.

BBC: North Lincolnshire oil refineries workers protest

The president told the group - three pipe-fitters and a plumber - at an Irish pub in downtown Orlando that he was trying to figure out how to help the building industry.

BBC: Republicans block Obama jobs bill