What Are Green Jobs? Working Definitions from Current TBED Research

Though green jobs have become the focus of many TBED initiatives at the federal, state and local levels, it remains difficult to estimate the size of the green workforce. Green jobs are a relatively new focus for economic development, and there is no standard definition of the green economy and green occupations. Several recent reports have taken on the task of defining green jobs, including the industry sectors that should be folded into that definition.

Green Jobs in Minnesota: Market Analysis, a report prepared for the Minnesota Green Jobs Task Force, takes a new approach to estimating the size of the green collar workforce by using market information that tracks levels of green activity in a variety of industries. The report identifies four industry sectors that make up the U.S. green energy economy: green products, renewable energy, green services and environmental conservation.

The green products sector is particularly expansive and includes green building, transport, and consumer and industrial products. Green building is the largest part of this sector in Minnesota, and includes new LEED construction, as well as production, installation and use of energy efficient building technologies.

In order to estimate the size of green workforce in Minnesota and project its growth over the next ten years, the report relies on other published studies and, in many cases, on calculations based on the estimated amount of green activity that occurs within traditional industry sectors. By examining the projected resources and demand for green products and services over the next ten year, the authors are able to project a rate of growth for the state's green workforce.

Green Jobs in Minnesota: Market Analysis is available at: http://www.mngreenjobs.com/sites/default/files/downloads/MN%20Green%20Jobs%20Report_0.pdf

The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and the Center for American Progress took a different approach last year in their report estimating the employment gains that could result from green investments. In Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy, the authors examine the types of occupations that stand to grow as federal and state governments invest in green initiatives.

In an earlier report, PERI compiled a list of occupations related to the green economy to describe the impact that federal green investment could have on a state-by-state basis. These occupations include jobs in building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automotive technologies, wind power, solar power and cellulosic biofuels. The full list of occupations related to the green economy includes over a hundred different jobs, including heating/air conditioning installers, carpenters, welders, software engineers, construction managers and industrial truck drivers.

In Green Recovery the authors argue that a large variety of jobs are central to the green economy and could see their demand increase as demand for green products and services grows.