Stagnant growth despite nationwide reopenings raises long-term concerns 511,100 clean energy workers remain jobless as COVID-19 crisis continues Without strong policy action, recovering lost jobs could take many years WASHINGTON (August 12, 2020) – Despite nationwide reopenings, job recovery in the U.S. clean energy sector slowed to a trickle in July. Only 3,200 clean energy […]
Please join Gov. Roy Cooper, E2’s new Southeast Chapter, fellow business leaders and our partners for a first-of-its-kind virtual NC Clean Economy Summit to discuss how together we can build back a better, cleaner, more equitable and more resilient economy. You’ll be among the first to learn about Clean Jobs North Carolina 2020 – the latest, most comprehensive […]
Since founding a renewable energy business in rural Jefferson County nearly a decade ago, I’ve been fortunate to work alongside people whose grit, vision and ingenuity has helped our company grow and prosper. Although we started with just two workers, at the time of the coronavirus outbreak we employed about 40 women and men. All […]
Report models impact of $99.2 billion of federal investments in existing programs and funding vehicles Stimulus could help get more than 500,000 unemployed clean energy workers in every state back on the job quickly WASHINGTON – As Congress considers additional measures to support and jumpstart the U.S. economy, a new E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) and E4TheFuture […]
Clean Energy Economic Stimulus ImpactsThe coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused millions of Americans—including as many as 620,500 clean energy workers—to lose their jobs over just a few months. E2 and E4TheFuture partnered with BW Research Partnership on this economic impact assessment to demonstrate the potential for creating jobs from federal stimulus investments in three major sectors of the clean energy economy: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Grid Modernization.
The clean energy industry is proven to provide a great return on stimulus investments. During the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) directed a portion of stimulus investments to supply chain components for major clean energy technology sectors such as advanced vehicles, batteries, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, grid modernization, and energy efficiency. It is estimated that these $90 billion in strategic investments and incentives supported roughly 900,000 job-years from 2009 through 2015. These investments also set the stage for long-term job growth across the nation’s clean energy industry. By 2019, the clean energy workforce was 3.4 million workers strong and had been growing two times faster than nationwide employment since 2017.
Economic benefits of the proposed federal stimulus package include high-quality jobs for U.S. residents, labor income, boosts to local, state, and federal tax revenues, contributions to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and energy cost savings. All these benefits ultimately translate to greater spending in the economy. Clean energy jobs are proven to be sustainable wage positions that are accessible to all localities across the U.S., regardless of geography, or politics, and provide new, equitable job opportunities that cannot be outsourced. Moreover, updates to the nation’s energy infrastructure are an investment in the collective economic future of Americans; the creation of a more resilient energy system is vital to economic growth and security.
This report looks at the first five years of economic impacts from a robust federal clean energy stimulus totaling $99.2 billion—with targeted and strategic investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and grid modernization. Our modeling finds that such an investment in our shared future would create 860,300 full time direct, indirect and induced jobs that will last for at least five years (a total of 4.3 million job-years). A stimulus of this level and the jobs it would create would also generate more than $66 billion in GDP each year for the next five years—resulting in $330 billion in economic activity, more than triple the amount of investment. These are jobs that would support sustainable wages and help bring the U.S. economy out of the severe recession.
The complete report is available for download at this link.
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. Clean energy jobs have grown every year since the first report was released in 2016.
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]).
106,300 clean energy workers returned to their jobs in June 514,200 clean energy workers remain jobless in wake of COVID-19 Troubling signs cloud clean energy sector’s outlook; stimulus needed now WASHINGTON – As the U.S. economy began to reopen in June, some employees returned to work in the clean energy sector, which had been reeling from […]
Clean energy advocates are calling for legislation to jump start the economy by supporting what was one of the Midwest’s largest and fastest growing jobs sectors before the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of 2019, more than 76,000 Wisconsin workers were employed in clean energy and energy efficiency jobs, which grew at more than twice […]
Job losses damper fast-growing sector that employed 537,000 Californians at end of 2019 1 in 5 Californians employed in January 2020 by clean energy now out of work Before COVID-19, 3% of overall employment statewide, and 30% of state construction workers, employed in clean energy Sacramento (June 25, 2020) – As Congress and state policymakers […]
Job losses damper fast-growing sector that employed 744,040 in the region at end of 2019 1 in 6 Midwesterners employed in January 2020 by clean energy now out of work Before COVID-19, clean energy jobs were growing almost 4 times faster than overall economy CHICAGO, IL – (June 25, 2020) – As Congress this week […]
Home to 744,000 Clean Energy JobsPrior to the COVID-19 crisis, clean energy companies employed more than 744,000 Midwesterners and clean energy jobs were growing in nearly every state, according to the latest available data. Across the region in 2019, the industry added more than 7,500 new jobs. At the end of 2019, more people in the Midwest worked in clean energy than the combined workforce of real estate agents and brokers, computer programmers, web developers, and waiters and waitresses. However, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Department of Labor unemployment data, in just the first three months after the pandemic began more than 131,600 workers in clean energy-related companies lost their jobs.
The Midwest’s largest clean energy employer was energy efficiency. The sector has been home to more than 70 percent of all the region’s clean energy jobs. Last year, the Midwest also saw job growth rate increases in clean fuels (2.9 percent), grid and storage (3.4 percent), and renewable energy generation (2.7 percent).
Clean energy jobs are found in every corner of the region. While big cities like Chicago (88,930 jobs), Detroit (55,470 jobs), and Minneapolis (38,920 jobs) were some of the largest hubs for clean energy jobs, more than one in five — or more than 158,000 — were at the end of 2019 located in rural areas.
Thousands of Midwestern companies hire clean energy workers every year. Before the crisis hit, these employers anticipated adding nearly 37,000 clean energy jobs in 2020 — a nearly 5 percent growth rate.
The complete report along with interactive breakdowns for all states is available at this link.
This report follows E2’s Clean Jobs America analysis which found the clean energy jobs account for nearly 3.3 million jobs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Both reports expand 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. E2 is a partner on the USEER, the fifth installment of the energy survey first released by the Department of Energy in 2016. Clean energy jobs have grown every year since the first report was released in 2016.
If you are looking for additional insight into E2’s Clean Jobs Midwest or our other Clean Jobs America reports, visit e2.org/reports. You can also contact E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake ([email protected]). An FAQ is also available here to answer any questions.
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