Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

Where Are the Green Jobs?

Clean energy economy grew 2.5 times faster than jobs overall from 1998 to 2007

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During the presidential campaign, the Obama-Biden New Energy Plan for America called for investing $150 billion over the next ten years to create five million new green jobs and build a clean energy future.

Since the election, the passage of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Plan) provides more than $80 billion in federal, clean energy investments to jump-start the economy.  

These investments include $11 billion for a smart electrical grid; $5 billion for low-income home weatherization projects; $4.5 billion for green federal buildings; and $6.3 billion for state and local efficiency and renewable energy program.

Skepticism on Green Jobs Numbers
While these investments represent a major down payment on the workforce of tomorrow, hard data on the number of green jobs saved or generated by the Stimulus Plan remain elusive.  The Obama Administration’s Recovery.gov only reports on the general number of “recovery funded jobs,” without breaking out green jobs.

Currently, the White House website on “Energy Environmental” Issues does not include specific numbers for green job generation.  Neither did the President’s State of the Union Address on January 28, 2010.  

While referring to saving 200,000 jobs in “construction and clean energy” and to putting more Americans to work building “the infrastructure of tomorrow,” Obama did not offer predictions on how many Americans would be employed in the new green economy.

This has led to concern among allies and attacks by skeptics, who seek to debunk the “myths of the green jobs movement.”  

Max Schulz, a critic of the administration’s proposals to play midwife to new green industries asks, “If new green employment makes sense for the economy, as advocates suggest, then why should there be a high public price tag in creating these jobs?  And how much can anyone really trust these numbers?”

Future Green Jobs Growth is Explosive
Fortunately, the facts show that current employment in the green economy is significant and that the potential for future green job growth is explosive.

Research conducted by Kil Huh and Lori Grange for The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) defines the “clean energy economy” as follows: “A clean energy economy generates jobs, businesses, and investments while expanding clean energy projection, increasing energy efficiency, reducing green house gas emissions, waste and pollution, and conserving water and other national resources.”

The clean energy economy contains five areas: (1) clean energy, (2) energy efficiency, (3) environmentally friendly production, (4) conservation and pollution mitigation goods and services, and (5) training and support for these areas.

Based on these definitions, Pew found that:
•  By 2007, more that 68,000 U.S. businesses accounted for 770,000 jobs that achieved the “double bottom line of economic growth and environmental sustainability.”
•  Even in its infancy, the clean energy economy compares favorably to the well-established traditional energy sector (utilities, coal and oil & gas), which comprised about 1.27 million workers in 2007.
•  The clean energy economy grew 2.5 times faster than jobs in the overall economy between 1998 and 2007.
•  With a global investment of over $1 trillion since 2007 and with the Stimulus Plan pumping over $80 billion into the new green economy, “the clean energy economy is poised for explosive growth.”

Potential for Green Job Growth
Although estimates vary widely, the potential for green job growth, including green collar jobs, over the next decade is vast.  As mentioned, President Obama’s New Energy for America Plan called for the creation of five million new green jobs over the next decade.

The Chicago-based workplace-data consulting group, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, predicts that job growth in environment, ecology, and alternative-energy sectors will “fuel significant growth and job creation over the next decade.”

Challenger’s findings say that green jobs – a category that also includes engineers, architects, project managers, and consultants – are expected to experience “explosive growth” at a rate of 1.3 million per year through 2030, and could present the best opportunities for a generation of college grads, rivaling those of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

A forecast by the American Solar Energy Society predicts that, by 2030, the number of direct and indirect jobs related to renewable energy and energy efficiency is expected to reach 40 million.

Cleantech Job Generation
Investing in renewable energy resources can create more jobs per dollar than investing in fossil fuels.

A recent Center for American Progress study modeled the number of jobs that could be created with a two-year, $100 billion investment in “green recovery.”
•  The study found that a two-year investment of $100 billion would create 2,000,000 jobs in renewable energy and green business.
•  The same investment of $100 billion dollars for two years in the oil industry would only create 542,000 jobs ─  or only 25% of a similar green investment.
According to Robert Pollin, economist with the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, “we're better off spending money on green investments.”

The technology and equipment used in the growing green economy can be “made in America.” Weatherization and retrofitting, installing and operating wind turbines, and building a smart electrical grid must be done on site, here at home.  

Are Green Collar Jobs Good Jobs?
According to a Bay Area study, green collar jobs typically pay living wages, mostly $10 - $18 per hour (with a range of $7 – $40 per hour) as well as providing health and other benefits, while providing meaningful work, high levels of job satisfaction and mobility opportunities.  The study defines green collar jobs broadly and includes entry level positions.

However, a recent Good Jobs First report shows that not all green jobs are “good jobs” that pay a stable living wage. Insuring that green jobs are good jobs is one of the major goals of the American labor movement, as we build the clean energy economy of tomorrow.

In the words of U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, “As I have said from day one, my goal is ‘A Good Job for Everyone.’ A good job is one that can support a family by increasing incomes and narrowing the wage gap.  A good job is safe and secure, and gives people a voice in the workplace.  A good job is sustainable and innovative – like green jobs – that export products not paychecks.  And a good job is one that will help rebuild the middle class.”

Learn more about Green Jobs at:
•    Center for American Progress; The Council of State Governments, Green Jobs Created or Saved by the Recovery Act; The Clean Energy Economy: National Numbers, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Green Collar Jobs, Berkeley, Office of Sustainable Development, 2007;Good Jobs First, High Road or Low Road, Job Quality in the New Green Economy, Feb. 2009.