Workers hit hard by the recession may find a green lining to their job woes.
President Barack Obama's administration demonstrated its commitment to greener industries with the federal stimulus package passed in February. The stimulus law directs $71 billion to clean energy spending and includes $20 billion in clean energy tax incentives, according to the Center for American Progress, a progressive Washington think tank.
A big reason for all this spending is, of course, to create jobs. For the 13.2 million people out of work, the green economy can't get started quickly enough. The unemployment rate among construction workers alone reached 21.1 percent in March, up from 12 percent a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The unemployment rate also soared in other sectors: for workers in manufacturing, the rate rose from 5 percent last March to 12.2 percent today; in professional and business services, the rate jumped from 6.2 percent to 11.4 percent; in wholesale and retail trades, it rose from 4.9 percent to 9 percent; and in the transportation and utilities sectors, it rose from 4.3 percent to 9 percent, BLS says.
While not all jobs can be replaced in greener industries, growth in mass transit, renewable energy, smart grid technology and energy efficiency will create jobs many unemployed workers can step into right away.
"The skills people already have in this economy will be readily transferable to the green economy," says David Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a partnership between labor and environmental organizations.
Spurring expansion of environmentally-friendly industries also should indirectly create jobs for accountants, lawyers, cashiers, clerks and retail workers, who will support green industries or will benefit from the unemployed returning to work.
Union organizations caution that not all green jobs pay well. "While some green companies are model employers, others pay their workers too little and offer them inadequate benefits," says the conclusion of a February report on job quality in the green economy by Good Jobs First, a coalition of labor and environmental groups.
Greening the economy will start in six areas cited in "Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and StartBuilding a Low-Carbon Economy" a report by the Department of Economics Political Economy Research Institute for the Center for American Progress last fall:
Read on to learn more about jobs in the following areas:
- Retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient
- Expanding mass transit
- Constructing a smart energy grid
- Expanding production of solar power
- Expanding production of wind power
- Production of advanced biofuels
Green jobs sector: Retrofitting buildings to make them energy efficient
What it is: Technology to make buildings more energy efficient with better lighting, windows and heating and cooling systems. Building retrofits will allow individuals and governments to save money and reduce carbon emissions.
Why it's going to be hot: The stimulus plan calls for more than $25 billion in energy efficiency improvements to federal buildings, grants to local governments, energy-efficiency retrofits for low-income housing and energy efficiency improvements at the Department of Defense, according to the Center for American Progress.
Who will benefit: Mechanical engineers, software engineers, performance assurance specialists, project managers, service technicians, heating/air conditioning installers, carpenters, roofers and electricians.
One example: Field service professional. After a building is retrofitted to be more energy efficient, technicians make sure HVAC and other building systems are running properly and remain efficient, says Mark Wagner, vice president of governmental relations at Johnson Controls. Median salary: $38,300, says a December 2008 report on the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries by American Solar Energy Society and Management Information Services.
Find a job retrofitting buildings in your area: Check out job boards at energy efficiency companies like Johnson Controls and Honeywell. Or go to ASES's GreenStart Job Board. Also search CareerBuilder on MSN Careers.
