The market-driven transition to a low-carbon energy system, along with billions of dollars in federal and state funding to boost the economy, is expected to create several million new jobs in coming years. However, to help build a more equitable economy, the clean energy industry must also expand its hiring practices, said the Sept. 9 report released by advocacy groups E2, Alliance to Save Energy, American Association of Blacks in Energy, Energy Efficiency for All and Black Owners of Solar Services.
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As the U.S. recovers economically from the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s equitable rebuilding is critical, added Bob Keefe, the executive director of E2, a business group also known as Environmental Entrepreneurs. Unemployment among Black Americans continued to rise even as the national jobless rate decreased slightly in August, showing how uneven the recovery has been.
At the same time, the nation’s clean energy industry is adding jobs faster than any other, already employing three times more people than the fossil fuel industry, Keefe noted.
More than 3 million Americans are working jobs related to clean energy, earning wages that are 25% higher the national median hourly rate, “and the overwhelming majority of the people who are getting these jobs are white, and they’re men,” Keefe said. “That’s got to change.”