Background
- This chapter analyzes green occupations across all industries in the economy because clean energy economy jobs are not fully contained within certain industries. A worker who installs solar panels at hospitals would not be counted as 'green' under USEER but is still of interest. Data on occupations also provides clues about workforce development. An economy that currently employs many qualified workers outside of green industries has more potential to expand green jobs as the clean energy economy matures. This analysis investigated 215 green occupational titles across three categories: traditional occupations with increased demand during the green transition “Increased Demand,” occupations that are seeing changes in work requirements, and newer occupational categories with new requirements, all of which were originally identified in the “Greening the World of Work” report, produced by O*NET in 2009. Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers are more in demand as new forms of infrastructure come online, but the installation itself isn’t changing.29 Architects are seeing the requirements of their longstanding occupations change to adjust to new building materials and certification schemes like LEED. Then there are professionals like Biomass Plant Technicians who are engaged in wholly new forms of work. This analysis alternates between discussions of green occupations as a whole as well as in their different guises. The labor force is amid a transformation, with green jobs being continuously made and remade.
29 Pollin and Wicks-Lam. Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments. Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst. June 2008. Available at: https://peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/other_publication_types/Green_Jobs_PERI.pdf
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Greening California’s Workforce
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