Green Collar Jobs

Green collar jobs are blue collar jobs in green business - that is, manual labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality (Pinderhughes, 2006). ¹ The term 'green collar jobs' is usually associated with green business or green industry- an emerging, multi-billion dollar economic sector in the U.S. and abroad. Green collar jobs are located in fields ranging from green construction, clean technology, urban agriculture and energy. These jobs are located in for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, and the public sector. ² Green collar workers include professionals such as conservation movement workers, environmental consultants, environmental or biological systems engineers, green building architects, renewable energy engineers, etc.

The first cohort of Solar Richmond program graduates celebrate a successful installation.

Source: http://www.solarrichmond.org/. Author: Solar Richmond. Permission: Public Resource.

Green collar jobs are relatively high quality jobs with low barriers to entry in sectors that are poised for dramatic growth. They represent an important emerging sector of the work force. ³ There is a growing movement to incorporate social responsibility within the green industries. Cultivating green collar jobs for people with barriers to employment can be an effective strategy to provide low-income men and women with access to good job opportunities.

Background

In the US in 2006, renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies generated 8.5 million new jobs, nearly $970 billion in revenue, and more than $100 billion in industry profits. ⁴ In 2007, U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) and U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) introduced the Green Jobs Act of 2007 and President Bush signed it into law. This Act authorizes $125 million for workforce training programs targeted at veterans, displaced workers, at-risk youth, and families in extreme poverty.

Twenty-two different sectors of the U.S. economy currently provide workers with green collar
jobs (Pinderhughes, 2006). These sectors include:

Bicycle repair and bike delivery services
Mechanic jobs, production jobs, and gas-station jobs
related to bio-diesel, vegetable oil and other alternative fuels
Energy retrofits to increase energy efficiency and conservation
Food production using organic and/or sustainably grown agricultural products
Furniture making from environmentally certified and recycled wood
Green building
Green waste composting on a large scale
Hauling and reuse of construction materials, demolition materials, and debris (C&D)
Hazardous materials clean up
Green (sustainable) landscaping
Manufacturing jobs related to greening technologies (i.e. solar panels, bike cargo systems, green waste bins, etc.)
Materials reuse and production from recycled and non-toxic materials
Non-toxic household cleaning in residential and commercial buildings
Parks and open space maintenance and expansion
Printing with non-toxic inks, dyes, and recycled papers
Public transit jobs
Recycling
Solar installation and maintenance
Tree cutting and pruning
Peri-urban and urban agriculture
Water retrofits to increase water efficiency and conservation
Whole home performance (i.e: HVAC, attic insulation, weatherization, etc.). ⁵

The Future of Green Collar Jobs

President-Elect Barack Obama has proposed $ 210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries. The investment Obama proposed will be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $ 150 billion to create 5 million “green collar” jobs in developing environmentally friendly energy sources.

However, debates exist about what green jobs are and how Obama will implement his plan. As stated by Gary Gereffi, leading author of “Manufacturing Climate Solutions,” “Until now, there was no tangible evidence of what [Obama's suggested] jobs are, how they are created and what it means for U.S. workers.” ⁶ Various institutions have investigated this topic and offered solutions for green collar job creation.

Manufacturing Climate Solutions

Researchers at Duke University have been looking into the economic plan proposed by Barack Obama and came out with a report titled “Manufacturing Climate Solutions”. This report concludes that most green jobs fall into the area of a lower-carbon economy. It presents new research linking U.S. jobs with selected low-carbon technologies that can help combat global warming. Specifically, the study analyzes five different carbon-reducing technologies, including LED lighting, high-performance windows, auxiliary power units for trucks, concentrating solar power, and super soil systems, to explore opportunities for U.S. job growth and technology leadership in the new, carbon-constrained global economy. ⁷

Center for American Progress

A report from the Center for American Progress concludes that a $100 billion federal investment in clean energy technologies over 2009 and 2010 would yield 2 million new U.S. jobs, cutting the unemployment rate by 1.3% and put the nation on a path toward a low-carbon economy. The report, prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, proposes $50 billion in tax credits for energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy systems; $46 billion in direct government spending for public building retrofits, mass transit, freight rail, smart electrical grid systems, and renewable energy systems; and $4 billion for federal loan guarantees to help finance building retrofits and renewable energy projects. The Center believes that clean energy investments would yield about 300,000 more jobs than if the same funds were distributed among U.S. taxpayers. The clean energy investments would also have the added benefits of lower home energy bills and reduced prices for non-renewable energy sources, due to the reduced consumption of those energy sources. ⁸

Worldwatch Institute/ UNEP

Global efforts to tackle climate change could result in millions of "green" jobs over the coming decades, according to a 2008 study prepared by the Worldwatch Institute with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study found that the global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from $1.37 trillion per year at present to $2.74 trillion by 2020, with half of that market in efficient energy use. In terms of energy supply, the renewable energy industry will be particularly important. Some 2.3 million people have found renewable energy jobs in recent years, and projected investments of $630 billion by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs. ⁹.

U.S. Conference of Mayors

In 2008, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that finds the U.S. economy currently generates more than 750,000 green jobs, while over the next 30 years, an emphasis on Clean Energy could result in a five-fold increase, to more than 4.2 million jobs. Engineering, legal, research, and consulting jobs currently dominate the green jobs in the United States and could grow by 1.4 million by 2038, while renewable electricity production will create 1.23 million jobs, alternative transportation fuels will add 1.5 million jobs, and building retrofits will create another 81,000 jobs. The report notes that most of today's jobs are in metropolitan areas, led by New York City; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles, California. ¹⁰