Awhile back I wrote a blog about the "green collar jobs" and it looks like green sector is here to stay.  The new administration is committed to reducing carbon emissions in an effort to fight global climate change. These new investments have the potential to provide economic benefits that go way beyond the primary one of emissions reduction. 

This would also create new jobs...the potential is there to not only add jobs to the economy, but also "new and improved" jobs to the labor market.  A 2005 study of clean energy and energy efficiency employment identified 8,400 individuals employed in clean energy jobs. This baseline was used to establish the goal of 25,000 green jobs by 2020.

We lost 5.1 million jobs over the past 15 months. In the longer run, even if the economy approaches full employment, green investments carry the potential to change the type of jobs in the U.S. economy.  The new administration commits $100 billion annually in new public investments over the next decade.  That is approximately $160 billion in additional output annually for the next two years, which translates into approximately 1.1 million net new jobs created.

This will also bring an increase in the relative wages of those 70% of U.S. workers without a four-year college degree by almost 0.5% each year that the increased commitment to green investments persists.  While modest, this amount does represent a wage increase for high school a graduate that is roughly 40% as large as the entire increase this group has seen since 1979.

The findings of the existing green economy employment studies vary greatly depending on the definitions, methods, and assumptions used by researchers.

The green sector is based on the development and use of products and services that promote environmental protection and energy security. It is composed of industries and businesses engaged in:

Energy Efficiency accounts for over half of all green jobs. Construction-related industries and occupations account for 70 percent of employment in the energy efficiency area, followed by professional and technical services such as architecture and engineering.

Preventing or Reducing Pollution was the second largest green core area, accounting for one-third of all green jobs. Agriculture-related industries and occupations represent over half of all employment in this green area, followed by construction, and waste management and remediation services.

Mitigation and Cleanup of Pollution was the third largest green core area, accounting for 9.5 percent of all green jobs. Professional and technical services, and waste management and remediation services, represent over two-thirds of employment in this green area.

Renewable Energy provided just over four percent of all green jobs. Construction-related industries and occupations, and professional and technical services, account for nearly half of all employment in this core area, followed by agriculture-related sectors, and electrical equipment manufacturing.

In the economic downturn green jobs are proving resilient, so the faster that government can create jobs, the better.