Clean Economy Jobs Grow in Most Major U.S. Cities, Study Reveals
Solar installer/Credit: CoCreatr, flickrEnvironmentally focused products and services now account for 2.7 million jobs — more than the fossil fuel industry — with three-fourths of the newest jobs based in the nation's largest metropolitan areas, the report said.
"Sizing the Clean Economy" is an initiative of the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., which worked with the Columbus, Ohio-based consultancy Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.
The researchers examined county-level data from 2003-2010 provided by Dun and Bradstreet, a global business data firm, and other sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. International Trade Commission. The study found an increase in clean economy jobs in three dozen sectors throughout 100 metro areas in 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
The team compiled their results into a Web-based map of the United States where individuals can scroll through to find data for different areas. A 64-page report offers insight to federal, state and regional leaders and governments on green development strategies.
"One of the great takeaways for us is that virtually all places are participating in the clean economy, but the ways that they do that are extremely varied," Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings program and co-author of the report, told SolveClimate News.
"This is an attempt to provide good, plausible, first-order information for leaders, especially in regional economies across the country, to really make sense of what they have, how large it is, how fast it is growing, and what the opportunities may be," he said.
The assessment defines "clean jobs" as positions in "establishments that directly produce goods and services with environmental benefits, or produce uniquely tailored goods and services that add value to products with an environmental benefit."
Muro said that to some extent the project was inspired by the absence of a clear understanding of what qualifies as "clean" or "green" and what does not.
"I think it has made it harder for federal, state and local policymakers to settle on good stable policies that would be supportive of clean economy growth," he said.
He noted that previous clean economy research, such as a 2009 report by The Pew Charitable Trusts on emerging clean energy sectors, focused mainly on state-level data, but "metropolitan and regional economies have not had consistent data at their fingertips."
New York Metro Area on Top
According to the Brookings-Battelle research initiative, the New York metropolitan area, covering New York City, Nothern New Jersey and Long Island, had the most clean economy jobs of any other metro area in 2010, with more than 150,000 positions.
Further upstate in Albany, nearly one in 15 jobs — over 28,000 positions — are based in the clean economy, due largely to the presence of General Electric and the state government.
The Los Angeles area came in second overall, with nearly 90,000 clean economy jobs, while the Chicago area in Illinois, spanning parts of Indiana and Wisconsin, had close to 80,000 jobs.
In terms of regional economies, the U.S. South topped the list — seven states there had at least 50,000 clean jobs each in 2010 — though the West had the largest job share relative to its population size.
Jobs reported in the study fell within 39 segments of five broader categories, including agricultural and natural resources conservation; education and compliance; energy and resource efficiency; greenhouse gas reduction, environmental management and recycling; and renewable energy.
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110713/clean-economy-green-jobs-grow-most-us-cities-brookings-study-reveals
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