Green Light for Green Jobs in California

by Tony Chavira

The CommonCurrent blog GreenFlow has a great post about the status of the Green Jobs sector that some out there may be interested in checking out:

Next10, a research organization in San Francisco, released last week an analysis of green job growth rates in California by sector and region, "Many Shades of Green." Looks like Golden State green job growth has outpaced other job growth since the mid-1990s into 2008 and the great recession.

Overall job growth in California's continuously expanding green sectors was 36% between 1995 and 2008, with traditional job growth at 13% over the same period. When the recession hit California in 2007, green jobs continued to grow into 2008 at a 5% pace while the rest of the job market actually decreased 1% in the state.

The nitty-gritty:

• The statewide region for green job growth was the Sacramento area, with an 87% percent growth rate. Sacramento experienced the highest-level employment growth (157%) in air and environment jobs (2.5 x 1995 levels). Energy generation employment grew by 141%.

• California's total green job growth leader is the San Francisco Bay Area with 41,674 green jobs. Bay Area trends include the largest number of energy generation jobs (roughly 7,000). Energy generation grew by 20%, with the high concentration in solar.

• In the San Joaquin Valley, total green job growth was 48% with the highest concentration of jobs in wind energy. Concentration in alternative fuels represent three times the state average. The number of jobs in green transportation grew 211%.

• In the Los Angeles area, energy generation jobs grew by 35% and energy efficiency jobs grew by 77%. In Orange County green transportation jobs grew 1,875% including alternative fuels and motor vehicles and equipment. Energy generation jobs grew by 176%

• According to Next 10, The Inland Empire's energy generation jobs grew by 85% with the highest concentration in solar and wind. Energy efficiency jobs grew by 91%.

Next10 is focused on innovation arising from the intersection of environmental, economic and quality of life interests. The non-profit was founded by venture capitalist F. Noel Perry.

Okay, so I pretty much copy-pasted the whole entry into our blog, but hey... it was worth it.

Comments

Comments closed.