Understanding Green Jobs

Green jobs is a phrase which has been made famous by President Obama. As per research done by Pew Charitable Trusts in June approximately 0.5% of the total job market that is around 770,000 jobs were green jobs. Compare this against the number of jobs created in other established industries like telecommunications where 989,000 jobs were created and biotech where 200,000 jobs were created and one clearly gets the idea that green jobs will be the next big thing in the job market. Also this is one segment of the job market that is experiencing fast growth. Green jobs are estimated to grow by 9.1% as against 3.7% growth projected for all jobs. As per placement company Challenger Gray & Christmas, the economy is already generating approximately 1.3 million new green collar jobs every year. American Solar Energy Society estimates that by 2030 there would be 40 million US jobs directly or indirectly related to energy efficiency and conservation.  If you want to have a look at what kind of jobs they are referring to then check out their website www.ases.org.

In fact experts believe that after the advent of computers and internet, clean technology jobs will be the next big thing in this era and renewable energy, environmentally-friendly building and manufacturing including all aspects of energy efficiency will end up being the greatest source of wealth and job creation. The numbers definitely look interesting. So what exactly are green jobs? Which are those sectors which will create green jobs. Let us try to understand the structure of this fast growing job segment.

Green Job sectors

Around 65% of the green jobs are in the conservation and pollution mitigation sector which includes recycling, conserving water, and reducing greenhouse gases. Scientists who work on making products that treat pollutants and those who are involved in removing dangerous materials from industrial sites are also included in this sector.

Job titles

So what kind of job titles qualify as green jobs. You could be a smart grid engineer who uses digital technology to create a faster network for electricity. A grid engineer typically earns anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000 a year depending on experience and qualification. It is a highly technical job for which you would need at least a bachelor’s degree in engineering to get a job.

Another job title that comes to my mind is a green architect or builder who specialises in designing and constructing buildings that use sustainable materials or renewable energy sources. A green architect may earn anywhere between $50,000 to $105,000 a year and a green builder may earn between $10 to $30 an hour. Again these are specialised fields for which you would need LEEDS accreditation or other green certification from your city or National Association of Home Builders.

Another green job which is in high demand is Energy auditors. If president Obama’s cash for claunker program kicks in then this skill set will be in great demand. Energy auditors conduct surveys of buildings and homes to determine how energy efficient they are and then suggest ways to make them more energy efficient. Again to be an energy auditor you would need certifications from a recognised institute. Energy auditors are normally paid by the number of hours they work and can make $12 to $14 an hour.

Educational qualification and Training

At the outset this segment of job market looks highly technical for which you will need training and advance degree. However this is true only if you are looking for high end jobs in this field. In fact green jobs present plenty of employment opportunities to people with lower income and not so skilled work force. As per estimates by the Political Economy Research Institute an estimated 870,000 jobs of the 1.7 million new jobs that are expected to be created will be available to people with high school degrees or less.

Where are these green jobs

The Clean Edge study came up with a list of 15 metropolitan areas that are the expected to be the main centres of green jobs growth. This ranking is based on the number of existing green jobs, the current amount of green investment and growth projection of green technology employers. The top 15 places in US for green jobs in the order of ranking are San Francisco, Los Angeles ,New York, Boston, Washington, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Sacramento, San Diego, Austin, Phoenix, Detroit and Houston.