The solar and the wind industry continues to be major contributor to a new green economy in America. Creating well-paying jobs from the ashes of what was exported or destroyed to spur the economic recovery remains a central concern in America. The Great Recession has left many professionals and their families struggling to make ends meet since wall street took down the economy in October 2008.
This jobless recovery is likely to be the longest recovery since the Great Depression. Furthermore, the convergence of automation and globalization have resulted in permanent changes in jobs across many industries. For instance, manufacturing and construction jobs are today more technical and requiring more education than 20 years ago. Due to the same pressure of automation and globalization, middle management jobs are also disappearing.
Most importantly, these lost jobs are likely not to come back as the economy recovers. Larry Summers, who recently stepped down as the White House top economic adviser, made this point very clearly recently during his interview on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN: “Some of the jobs that were lost aren’t going to come back, but some of the jobs are going to come in new places,” Summers said.
The good news for responsible professionals and socio-eco innovators is that solar and green jobs are likely to fuel the recovery both
globally and in the US. Globally, research from the United Nations Environmental Program has shown that a shift to a a low-carbon and sustainable economy can create millions of green jobs across many sectors of the economy. Similarly, the employment outlook from the US Department of Labor for job growth between 2008-2018 indicated a significant growth of solar and green jobs this. Of course, this prediction is largely based on President Obama’s pledge to invest $150 billion to create 5 million green jobs in the US over the next 10 years. The focus on green jobs is tremendously important not only to create jobs, but also to have a tremendous positive impact on our environment.
But what are the sectors that will most benefit from these green jobs investments? From the United Nations report, the industries that will enjoy a green job growth include the solar, wind and biofuels, the Buildings and Construction Industry (e.g. energy efficiency, retrofitting, green building), the Transportation Industry (e.g. Aviation, Road Transportation, Cars, Public Transportation, Rail), the Food and Agriculture Industry (e.g. Environmental Footprint, Agro-Industrial Food), Commodities (e.g. Iron & Steel, Cement, Pulp and Paper, Aluminium, Recycling), and Forestry (e.g. Avoiding Further Deforestation, Reforestation, Agro-Forestry, Sustainable Forestry Management).
In line with these global projections, the US Department of Labor turn green to gold business program is focusing on creating green jobs in a wide range of industries, including renewable energy jobs (e.g. solar, wind, electric grid upgrade), and buildings and construction jobs (e.g. energy efficiency, retrofitting, green building), and manufacturing.
From challenges come opportunities and solar, wind energy and commercial solar are leading the way creating jobs and careers opportunities in a new green economy that successfully blends financial return with social impact and environmental responsibility.
Source: Just Means by Mrim Boutla