New Brookings Report Looks at State and Regional Jobs in the "Clean" or "Green" Economy

The clean economy employs over 2.6 million workers spread across a diverse group of industries, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Instition in partnership with Battelle's Technology Partnership. In Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment, the researcher developed, analyzed and commented on a detailed database of establishment-level employment statistics related to clean economy industries at the national, state and regional levels. Through the report, the research team intends to define what constitutes a clean/green job and what the clean/green economy in the U.S. is. The authors contend that the clean economy is "defined as the sector of the economy that produces goods and services with an environmental benefit."

The report's significant findings include:

• The 2.6 million Americans employed in the clean economy makes it a larger domestic employer than the fossil fuel industry and a significantly larger than the bioscience industry.
• Most clean economy jobs reside in manufacturing and public services (e.g., wastewater and mass transit) industries.
• The smaller portion of clean economy jobs are found in the energy-related sectors (e.g., solar photovoltaic, wind, fuel cell, smart grid, biofuel and battery industries).
• Median wages in the clean economy are 13 percent higher than median U.S. wages.
• The south has the largest number of individuals employed in the clean economy due to its strong manufacturing base — seven of the 21 states with at least 50,000 clean economy jobs are in the South.
• California has the highest number of clean jobs (318,156).
• Alaska and Oregon have the most clean jobs per worker.
• Approximately 75 percent of its new clean economy jobs created from 2003 to 2010 was in the nation's 100 largest metro areas.

The report also showed that the clean economy grew at a slower annual rate (3.4 percent) than the national economy (4.2 percent) between 2003 and 2010. However, the authors contend that governmental support for the clean economy is necessary due to its manufacturing and export intensive nature. Approximately 26 percent of clean economy jobs reside in the manufacturing sector, compared to just 9 percent in the broader economy. Manufacturing intensive sectors include electric vehicles (EV), green chemical products and lighting segments. On a per job basis, establishments in the clean economy export roughly twice the value of a typical U.S. job ($20,000 versus $10,000). Export intensive sectors include biofuels, green chemicals and EV industries. In comparison to their peers, low- and middle-skilled green collar workers have significant higher wages, according to the report.

The authors recommend that that the clean economy should be driven by private sector-led growth, which must be co-promoted through sustained and committed efforts at all levels of government to ensure the "existence of well-structured markets, a favorable investment climate and a rich stock of cutting-edge technology." They provide four recommendations to achieve this goal:

• Scale up the market by taking steps to catalyze vibrant domestic demand for low-carbon and environmentally-oriented goods and services.
• Ensure adequate financing by moving to address the serious shortage of affordable, risk-tolerant, and larger-scale capital that now impedes the scale-up of numerous clean economy industry segments.
• Drive innovation by investing both more and differently in the clean economy innovation system.
• Focus on regions, meaning that all parties need to place detailed knowledge of local industry dynamics and regional growth strategies near the center of efforts to advance the clean economy.

Brookings provides several web tools, specialized reports and a webcast to make the data more accessible to economic development practitioners, policymakers and the general populous. Each state and metro area has an individualized clean economy profile that includes data related to jobs, wages, export and select sectors. An interactive map also allows users to analyze data in real time at the national, state and regional levels. Brookings also provides a replay of the report's live webcast launch held on June 13, 2011, which includes a presentation of the findings and panel discussions. Read the report...