Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released data on the number of job openings as of the last day of November. The number, a mere 3.2 million, is a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 14.5 million Americans still relying on unemployment insurance. That number doesn't count all those Americans who are no longer collecting unemployment because they're no longer eligible for benefits or because they've given up looking for work. It also doesn't count the high number of Americans who would like full-time work but are struggling to piece together a living instead from part-time jobs without benefits.

Monday was the deadline for public comments on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' proposal on gathering data on green jobs. It was a minor step in an obscure, slow-moving process most Americans aren't watching.

The public commentary period that just ended is part of a larger federal effort to formalize our understanding of what a green job is and count, for the first time, how many green jobs already exist and how fast the sector is growing. It's both critical and frustratingly, agonizingly slow-moving. In the meantime, we've pumped millions of dollars into green-jobs training programs, and politicians have touted the idea that a full economic recovery hinges on using green jobs to revitalize the manufacturing sector.