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Despite Challenges, Biden Administration Positioned to Unleash “Full Potential” of US Clean Energy Economy

E2: Congress needs to join the mission of building back a cleaner, better economy WASHINGTON (January 20, 2021) – Joe Biden will be sworn in today as the 46th President of the United States, bringing much needed change as the nation faces some of the toughest economic and environmental challenges in recent history. The following […]

2020 Ends With 429,000 Fewer Americans Employed in Clean Energy

**This memo has been revised and is available here. The numbers presented in the original Jan. 13, 2021 memo are based on data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Jan. 8, 2020. An update to that data was made by the BLS in the Feb. 5, 2021  Employment Situation report** For first […]

Clean Energy & COVID-19 Crisis | December 2020 Unemployment Analysis

Clean Energy Unemployment Claims in COVID-19 Aftermath, December 2020

Summary:

**This memo has been revised and is available here. The numbers presented in the original Jan. 13, 2021 memo are based on data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Jan. 8, 2021. An update to that data was made by the BLS in the Feb. 5, 2021  Employment Situation report**

The U.S. clean energy sector added 16,900 jobs in December, leaving 429,250 clean energy workers out of work since February of this year – a 12 percent decline over pre-COVID-19 employment levels, according according to the latest analysis of federal unemployment filings prepared for E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), E4TheFuture and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) by BW Research Partnership

While the nation’s overall jobs recovery has stalled over the last several months, the clean energy sector has been particularly slow. December’s job numbers represent the seventh straight month of job growth for the industry after three months of devastating job losses, yet just 30 percent of the industry’s total jobs lost have been recovered. At the current rate of recovery over the last six months,  it would take clean energy — once the nation’s fastest-growing job sector — well into 2023 to reach pre pandemic employment levels. It take an additional year to make-up for the projected 175,000 new jobs projected to be added to the industry in 2020 before the pandemic struck.

Impacts of the pandemic-fueled job crisis also continued to disproportionately impact women and Black and Hispanic workers in December. Women—particularly women of color—and Hispanic workers lost jobs overall last month despite total clean energy employment growing slightly, at a rate of 0.6%.

At the start of 2020, nearly 3.4 million Americans across all 50 states and the District of Columbia worked in clean energy occupations, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, clean vehicles and fuels.

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^{The revised memo based on the BLS updates to the data can be found here.}

States With The Most Total Job Losses, December 2020

State	Total Losses	Percent of Clean Energy Workforce
California	71,615	13.00%
Georgia	26,155	30.30%
Florida	22,814	13.60%
Michigan	21,946	16.50%
Texas	18,622	7.60%
North Carolina	17,044	14.90
Pennsylvania	16,735	17.20%
Washington	16,580	18.60/td>
Ohio	14,116	12.20%
Massachusetts	12,088	10.60%

By Industry Job Losses,
December 2020

Sector	March	April	May	June	July	August	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
Energy Efficiency	-103,298	-309,584	-18,880	+71,786	+6,836	+8,116	+8,354	+16,806	+5,400	+12,301
Renewables	-23,739	-71,705	-4,272	+17,287	+1,918	+2,571	+2,273	+3,965	+1,348	+2,779
Clean Vehicles	-11,399	-35,070	-2,059	+10,335	+896	+2,182	+965	+1,615	+646	+422
Grid & Storage	-6,517	-19,666	-1,166	+4,561	+428	+482	+510	+1,042	+336	+752
Clean Fuels	-2,186	-10,390	-657	+2,351	+296	+205	+378	+407	+150	+632
Total	-147,139	-446,416	-27,035	+106,320	+10,373	+13,556	+12,479	+23,838	+7,880	+7,880

Looking for More Info?

The analysis expands on data from the 2020 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) in partnership with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), using data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership. The report was released in March 2020 and is available at www.usenergyjobs.org. E2 is a partner on the USEER, the fifth installment of the energy survey first released by the Department of Energy in 2016 and subsequently abandoned under the Trump administration.

If you are looking for additional insight into this report or E2’s more than a dozen other annual clean energy employment reports, visit e2.org/reports. You can also contact E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake ([email protected]).

Big in 2021: American jobs created by EV companies

The new EV jobs couldn’t come at a better time. Thanks to the pandemic, 2020 saw historic American unemployment rates peaking in April and recovering to just 6.7 percent unemployment as of November. But with a slow vaccine rollout and surging infection rates, prolonged long-term high unemployment rates are expected. Clean energy jobs have been […]

Trump’s unplanned gift to Biden: Clean energy on the rise

Renewables are now on track to surpass coal as the largest source of electricity in the world by 2025, according to a November report from the International Energy Agency. And in the U.S., the latest outlook from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration is bullish on wind and solar, which along with hydropower and other […]

Some Bright Spots for Clean Energy in Congressional Funding Package

The 11th hour funding stimulus and spending package from Congress includes some bright spots for clean energy and climate action as we round out an otherwise dark year. It couldn’t come soon enough. American workers and companies are struggling — including those in the business of making our homes, buildings and electricity supplies cleaner. Since the start of […]

Inslee unveils $100 million plan for clean energy investments, green public transit

Gov. Jay Inslee wants Washingtonians traveling in greener vehicles and burning less carbon over the next two years under a $427 million plan to fight climate change. The governor’s climate plan includes $230 million for electrifying buses, ferries, and new charging stations for electric vehicles. Inslee’s office says this will save the state $14 million […]

What’s The Cost

JOBS REPORT: At the current rate of recovery, the clean energy sector will take three years to return to employment levels seen before the pandemic hit, according to a new report this morning. Clean energy companies added the fewest number of jobs last month since unemployment peaked in May, according to the analysis by BW […]

Clean Energy Employment Barely Creeps Up as Winter Sets In, November Data Shows

November’s meager additions to clean energy employment continues a steady but slowing pattern of growth in the six months since the industry’s low point in May of more than 620,000 jobs lost. The report notes that “Black and Hispanic workers continue to suffer from disproportionately high levels of unemployment” as compared with their white counterparts. […]

Report: Virginia’s 100% Clean Energy Law Insufficient to Tackle Climate Change

The economy has lost more than 450,000 jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency since the pandemic began, even after employment increases in recent months, according to data released Wednesday by E2, E4TheFuture, the American Council on Renewable Energy, and BW Research Partnership. In Virginia, the RMI and Energy Innovation scenario forecasts the addition of […]

Slow Job Growth in November Leaves 446,000 Clean Energy Workers Unemployed as COVID Cases, Shutdowns Surge

**This memo has been revised and is available here. The numbers presented in the original Dec. 8, 2020 memo are based on data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Dec. 4, 2020. An update to that data was made by the BLS in the Feb. 5, 2021  Employment Situation report** Clean energy […]

Clean Energy & COVID-19 Crisis | November 2020 Unemployment Analysis

Clean Energy Unemployment Claims in COVID-19 Aftermath, November 2020

**This memo has been revised and is available here. The numbers presented in the original Dec. 8, 2020 memo are based on data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Dec. 4, 2020. An update to that data was made by the BLS in the Feb. 5, 2021  Employment Situation report**

The U.S. clean energy sector added 7,900 jobs in November, leaving 446,000 clean energy workers out of work since February of this year – a 13 percent decline over pre-COVID-19 employment levels, according according to the latest analysis of federal unemployment filings prepared for E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), E4TheFuture and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) by BW Research Partnership

While the nation’s overall jobs recovery has stalled over the last several months, the clean energy sector has been particularly slow. Concerns raised in memoranda from prior months continue, including record-breaking levels of new and continuing unemployment claims and the exhaustion of many programs from earlier stimulus.

While November represents the sixth straight month of job growth for the industry after three months of devastating job losses, seven out of 10 clean energy workers who lost their jobs since the beginning of the crisis remain out of work. With November’s meager job growth, employment in clean energy — once the nation’s fastest-growing job sector — has grown by less than half a percent four of the last five months.

Clean energy businesses created about 190,000 new jobs nationwide from 2018-2020, and employers projected more than 175,000 jobs would be added in 2020 heading into the year, according to the 2020 U.S. Energy & Employment Report (USEER) employer survey. But at the rate of recovery seen since June, it would take about three years for the clean energy sector to reach pre-COVID employment levels and an additional 14 months to reach the levels of clean energy employment projected for 2020 before the pandemic struck.

At the start of 2020, nearly 3.4 million Americans across all 50 states and the District of Columbia worked in clean energy occupations, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, clean vehicles and fuels.

By Industry Job Losses, November 2020

States With The Most Total Job Losses, November 2020

Download

For a full breakdown of clean energy jobs losses in each state, download the full analysis here. 

Looking for More Info?

The analysis expands on data from the 2020 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) in partnership with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), using data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership. The report was released in March 2020 and is available at www.usenergyjobs.org. E2 is a partner on the USEER, the fifth installment of the energy survey first released by the Department of Energy in 2016 and subsequently abandoned under the Trump administration.

If you are looking for additional insight into this report or E2’s more than a dozen other annual clean energy employment reports, visit e2.org/reports. You can also contact E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake ([email protected]).

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