At work

Whenthe economy makes big news, many photographs of people at work comeacross the wires, usually to help illustrate a particular story orevent. By collecting these disparate photos over the past few months, Ifound that a global portrait emerged of we humans producing things.People assembling, generating, and building items small and large,mundane and expensive, trivial and important. I hope you enjoy thislook into some people's work lives around the world. (45 photos total)

ElectricTime Co. employee Walter Rodriguez cleans the face of an 84-inch Wegmanclock at the plant in Medfield, Mass. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. (APPhoto/Elise Amendola)

Anaerial view of the snow covered Ruhr district, with the steel companyThyssenKrupp in Duisburg, western Germany, is seen. ThyssenKrupp AG,Germany's largest steelmaker, said Friday Feb. 13, 2009 company profitsdropped sharply in the fiscal first quarter and that it would cut jobsas the world economic crisis caused a sharp fall in demand for steel.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein) 

Aworker walks past chicken eggs stored at a major eggs productionfactory in suburban Beijing, China, Friday, Oct. 31, 2008. Three moreChinese brands of eggs containing melamine were identified and a localgovernment has acknowledged that officials knew about the contaminationfor a month before it was publicly disclosed. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) 

MillerBrady Hageman checks roller mills as wheat is ground into flour to makepasta at the American Italian Pasta Co. plant in Excelsior Springs, Mo.Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) 

Aworker walks over steel bars at an iron and steel plant in Wuhan, Hubeiprovince, China on November 1, 2008. Moves by China to restrict steelexports may push trade distortion problems into other industries downthe line and run counter to world rules, a U.S. trade official said.(REUTERS/Stringer) 

Workersperform a quality check for newly made toys at the production line of atoy factory in the suburbs of Shanghai October 31, 2008. According tothe owner of the factory, where most of the production is for export tothe U.S and Japan, the slowdown of about 30% in client's orders can bemainly attributed to the global financial crisis. The number of Chinesefirms exporting toys overseas halved in the first seven months of 2008,compared to the year before, the General Administration of Customs saidon Monday. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) 

Anoperator walks in the control room of the closed third unit of thenuclear power plant of Kozlodui north east of the Bulgarian capitalSofia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. Bulgaria's parliament has approved plansto seek European Union permission to re-launch two old nuclear reactorsmothballed when it joined the EU two years ago. The two aging440-megawatt reactors at the Kozlodui plant were shut down in 2007. Thegovernment says Bulgarian businesses lost euro100 million (US$129million) when Russian natural gas supplies were suspended for nearlytwo weeks. (AP Photo/Petar Petrov) 

NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-il visits the Pyongyang Gum Factory inPyongyang, North Korea, in this undated picture released by NorthKorea's official news agency KCNA on January 16, 2009. (REUTERS/KCNA) 

Anemployee works at a workshop of Changning Steel and Iron Factory inChangzhi, Shanxi province, China on January 15, 2009. European Uniontrade officials will vote on Thursday in favor of imposing temporaryantidumping duties of 25 percent on imports of Chinese-made steel wirerods, diplomats said. (REUTERS/Stringer) 

Awoman spins raw silk yarn in a factory owned by Rwandan textile firmUtexwra in Rwanda's capital city, Kigali on January 19, 2009. Rwandantextile firm Utexrwa will launch the central African country's firstrange of silk products in February, as part of a strategy to more thantriple turnover, the company said on Monday. The central Africancountry's soil and climate are ideal for growing mulberry trees whichsilk-worms eat. The company said silk-worm rearers can earn three timesmore than coffee growers per hectare per year. (REUTERS/HerewardHolland) 

Peoplework on an assembly line of shoes at Thuong Dinh Shoe factory in Hanoi,Vietnam, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. Thuong Dinh Shoe factory producesshoes for domestic markets and for exports. Shoe exports are among topof Vietnam's export earners, earning $4 billion last year.(APPhoto/Chitose Suzuki) 

Labourerswork at a brick factory in Takarjul village in India - about 60 km (37miles) south of the city of Agartala on February 3, 2009.(REUTERS/Jayanta Dey) 

Alaborer's hands are covered with paraffin wax inside a candle makingfactory in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri October 24, 2008.Candles are sold in large numbers during Diwali, the annual Hindufestival of lights, when people buy candles to decorate their homes.The Diwali festival was celebrated across the country on October 28.(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri) 

EladioGonzalez sands and buffs Oscar #3453 at R.S. Owens & CompanyThursday, Jan. 22, 2009, in Chicago. Oscar 3453 began its life with thetransformation of a chunk of metal alloy into a 13 1/2-inch-tall statueat the factory where the statuettes have been made since 1983. (APPhoto/M. Spencer Green) 

Pralinespass by on a conveyor belt at the Halloren Schokoladenfabrik AGchocolate factory in Halle, Germany, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009.Halloren is one of the few eastern German companies that has not beenbought by a competitor after the country's reunification. (AdamBerry/Bloomberg News) 

TheBoeing 787 line is shown at Boeing Co.'s airplane assembly plant inEverett, Wash., Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 

Aworker assembles a miniature locomotive at the Maerklin model trainfactory March 30, 2006 in Goeppingen, Germany. Maerklin is one of manyGerman smaller manufacturing companies with rich traditions who havesuffered under falling demand for their high-priced products. (ThomasNiedermueller/Getty Images) 

Anemployee works at a mobile phone assembly line at a LG Electronicsplant in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea in this picturereleased on January 22, 2009. (REUTERS/LG Electronics/Handout) 

A coal worker stacks wood in the Cienega de Zapata, Cuba on February 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa) 

Aworker inspects newly-made gloves at Top Glove factory in Klang outsideKuala Lumpur on January 13, 2009. Malaysia's Top Glove Corp is theworld's largest producer of rubber gloves. (REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad) 

Anemployee works at a Changning Steel and Iron Factory in Changzhi,Shanxi province, China on January 15, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) 

Aworker at the Elite Thai Leather factory inspects a dyed crocodile skinin Bangkok, Thailand on October 27, 2008. Craftsman whip tough Thaicrocodile hides into any style of luxury handbag a fashion designerdesires. (CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images) 

Inthis Nov. 28, 2007 file photo, mine-resistant, ambush-protectedvehicles (MRAP) are assembled at the Force Protection factory in NorthCharleston, S.C. (AP Photos/Alice Keeney, File) 

Aperson works in a facility at Arura Tibetan Medicine Group, a Tibetanmedicine enterprise ranked number one in China, on November 21, 2008 inXining of Qinghai Province, China. (China Photos/Getty Images) 

Aman picks a bottle at an assembly line inside the Taiwan Beer factoryin Jhunan, Miaoli County February 13, 2008. Taiwan Beer, made by theTaiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp, will be sold in mainland China fromMay, amid warming ties between the two cross-strait rivals, accordingto local media. (REUTERS/Nicky Loh) 

Obamacigars ready to be packed in boxes are placed on a table at the SegoviaCigars Factory in the Nicaragua's northern province of Esteli February4, 2009. While U.S. President Barack Obama tries to kick an old smokinghabit, a Nicaraguan company has produced the latest in a flood ofmerchandise trying to cash in on his popularity -- "Obama" cigars.(OSWALDO RIVAS/Reuters) 

A woman works in a textile factory in Suining in southwest China's Sichuan province, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. (AP Photo) 

ABelarussian man works in a felt boot factory in Smilovichi, some 35 kmeast of Minsk on February 5, 2009. Felt boots for cold winterconditions called "valenky" are common throughout Russia, Lithuania,Ukraine, and Latvia. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images) 

Anemployee works at the Ferronikeli smelting complex in Glogovac, centralKosovo February 12, 2009. The Ferronikeli ore mining and metallurgicalcomplex, set up in 1984, was badly damaged during the 1999 NATO airstrikes against Serbia. It was bought by a consortium of internationalinvestors in 2006. (REUTERS/Hazir Reka) 

Aworker at Iraqi's Iskandariyah power plant works on a brokenelectricity-generating turbine shaft February 11, 2009 in Iskandariyah,Iraq. Built in the early 1980s, the Iskandariyha plant is Iraq'slargest and most important, providing a significant percentage of thecountry's total electrical power. Years of neglect by Saddam'sgovernment, as well as a 1991 aerial strike by the US during thePersian Gulf War, have left the plant hobbled and sometimes onlyoperating at half capacity. The plant burns Iraq's plentiful crude oilto generate power with almost no modern environmental regulations whileits employees, numbering over 1000, work on dirty, oil-slicked floorswith little safety equipment. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) 

Aworker keeps track of finished cars at the assembly line for the VWGolf at the Volkswagen car factory on November 14, 2008 in Wolfsburg,Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) 

Workersignite a kiln at a brick factory in Guruwali village on the outskirtsof Amritsar, India on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. Brick making is anunorganized industry, generally confined to rural and semi-urban areasand is one of the largest employment-generating industries in India.The laborers usually work for 12-14 hours a day to reach a target of1,000 bricks a day, earning between US$ 60 to 100 a month. (APPhoto/Altaf Qadri) 

Chinese workers labor in a factory making zippers in Jinjiang, China's Fujian province Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. (AP Photo) 

Alaborer works on a toilet bowl for export, at a ceramic factory inTangshan, Hebei province, China on October 15, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Aworker walks over hot steel plates at the factory of Swiss Steel AGwhich is partly owned by the Schmolz + Bickenbach group inEmmenbruecke, outside Lucerne, Switzerland on October 15, 2008.(REUTERS/Michael Buholzer) 

An employee works in a textile factory in Suining, Sichuan province, China October 22, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer) 

Childlaborers sit at a police station after they were removed from a factoryduring a raid by policemen and activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or"save childhood" movement, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Oct. 23,2008. 34 child laborers were rescued from a local embroidery factory.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup) 

Workersoperate product lines in a dairy factory of Mengniu Dairy Group Co.,one of China's largest dairy producers, in Hohhot, north China's InnerMongolia region, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. China's dairy giants aretrying to revive their brands and win back consumer confidence, sayingmelamine contamination problems that have tarnished the industry won'tresurface. Nearly 6,000 Chinese babies remain hospitalized with kidneyproblems caused by contaminated milk powder, the Health Ministry said.(AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan) 

Chineseworkers make umbrellas at a factory in Jinjiang, southeastern China'sFujian province on November 11, 2008. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) 

Aperson works with a gunpowder mixture inside a firecracker factory onthe outskirts of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri October 21,2008. (REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA) 

Atechnical expert inspects a still in the distillery of the Hennessyfactory in Cognac, southwestern France, January 22, 2009.(REUTERS/Regis Duvignau) 

Anemployee prepares gold bars for transport at a plant owned byArgor-Heraeus SA in the southern Swiss town of Mendrisio November 13,2008. (REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann) 

Aworker inspects machinery at a zipper factory in Jinjiang, southeastChina's Fujian province on October 18, 2008. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) 

Alaborer walks over newly-made pipes at a cement plant in Yingtan,Jiangxi province, China on October 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer) 

NewYork Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a group of city officials, (bottomright), watch as the cutter head of a tunnel boring machine is liftedby crane before being lowered into an underground assembly chamberbeneath 11th Avenue at 25th Street for use in the Number 7 subway lineextension project Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 in New York. The cutter head,22 feet in diameter and weighing 100 tons, is the first piece of twomassive tunnel boring machines that will slice through Manhattanbedrock as they bore underneath 11th Avenue from 25th Street to 41stStreet, and then east to the existing Number 7 line's terminus at TimesSquare. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

from  boston