In the US, solar creates more jobs than oil
Environment — di Cecilia Bergamasco
Renewables and energy efficiency are driving employment growth in America. Solar is the sector creating the highest number of jobs
In the US, solar creates more jobs than oil
Renewables and energy efficiency are driving employment growth in America. Solar is the sector creating the highest number of jobs
In the United States, solar creates more jobs than oil, gas and coal combined. The figures come from the U.S. Energy and Employment Report, published by the US Department of Energy at the start of the year. The report maps how changes in the energy sector are giving momentum to employment across key areas of the American economy.
Renewables and efficiency drive economic growth
There are 6.4 million Americans working in the energy and energy efficiency industry. Of these, 300,000 are new jobs, accounting for 14 per cent of all new employment created in the US in 2016. According to David Foster, Senior Advisor at the Department of Energy, "Energy innovation has proven to be an important driver of economic growth in America." In particular, energy efficiency created 133,000 new jobs, bringing total employment in the sector to 2.2 million; investments in energy distribution and storage generated a further 65,000 new jobs. Figures that, as Foster highlighted, shed light on the dynamic role that energy technologies and infrastructure play in the twenty-first-century economy.
REPORT: 6.4 million Americans now work in the energy industry, which added 300,000 new jobs in 2016 ➟ energy.gov/articles/doe-r…
Employment: solar beats fossil fuels
But the most striking figure in the American report concerns solar. American solar — photovoltaic and concentrated solar power — employed almost 374,000 people in 2016, equal to 43 per cent of the entire workforce employed in the electricity generation sector. A figure that far exceeds the result of the fossil fuel industry — oil, coal and gas combined — which counts just over 187,000 workers, equal to 22 per cent of employment in the sector.
Double-digit growth in renewable energy employment
Compared with 2015, job growth at companies linked to renewables accelerated over the past year. In solar, employment grew by 25 per cent: a full 73,000 additional jobs. In wind, the increase reached 32 per cent: 25,000 new workers, bringing the wind industry to become the third most important energy generation sector in the United States, employing almost 102,000 people.
Job opportunities undermined by hard-to-find skills
Growth that shows no sign of stopping, at least according to employers. Yet, despite the job growth opportunities expected across many energy sectors, the report finds that 73 per cent of all employers surveyed find it "difficult or very difficult" to hire new staff. The lack of skills needed to work in the sector is a heavy burden — a difficulty that grows year after year and that could prove one of the greatest obstacles to the sector's development and innovation.