California 1st in nation for clean energy workforce- Clean energy jobs grew 4X faster than overall CA economy
- Southern CA counties among top 3 nationwide
Sacramento – Clean energy and clean vehicle companies added more than 21,600 jobs in California, bringing the total number of clean energy workers in the state to 544,600 according to the latest Clean Jobs California annual analysis released today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2.
Boosted by $1.6 billion in private investments to build new large-scale clean energy projects across California since the passage of industry tax incentives in 2022, clean energy jobs in the state grew 4.1 percent last year – more than four times faster than economy-wide jobs in California, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). At the end of last year, there were seven times more clean energy than fossil fuel industry workers in the state.
Nationally, California ranks first among all 50 states and the District of Columbia for total jobs in renewable generation and first for overall clean energy jobs. Energy efficiency remains the top overall clean energy employer with over 302,000 workers, followed by renewable energy (136,600 jobs) and clean vehicles (75,000 jobs). The majority of the state’s clean energy workers are employed in construction (229,500 jobs) and professional services (134,300 jobs).
Home to more nearly 160,000 of the state’s clean energy workers, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area ranked second among all U.S. metro areas for most clean energy jobs. The metro areas of San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (106,500 jobs), San Diego-Carlsbad (54,000 jobs) and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (50,000 jobs), ranked third, 10th, and 15th respectively. About 2.7 percent of the state’s clean energy jobs (14,500 jobs) are in rural or nonmetropolitan areas.
Susan Nedell, Senior Western Advocate for E2 said:
“The historic policies and incentives created by the clean energy tax incentives are helping to power an American economic revolution in California’s energy industry, and workers and businesses in every part of our state are benefiting. This report clearly shows clean energy continues to be an important economic driver for the state, outpacing traditional energy sectors and the general economy, and demonstrating the need for continued leadership at the state level to attract even more jobs and investments to the state, so that California continues to lead the country in the transition to a clean energy economy.”
Nationally, U.S. clean energy jobs outpaced overall economy wide job growth by 200 percent, adding almost 150,000 jobs for a total of 3.46 million.
For a copy of the Clean Jobs California 2024 report to dive deeper into the data including subsector data such as solar and electric vehicle jobs and explore jobs down to the state, county, and metro levels, visit here. Interactive maps of clean energy jobs data, including for every U.S. state and county, are available at cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/
Methodology
This analysis of U.S. clean energy employment is based on employment data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership for the 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER). The USEER analyzes data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) to track employment across many energy production, transmission and distribution subsectors.
In addition, the 2024 USEER relies on a unique supplemental survey of 42,000 business representatives across the United States. Created and conducted by BW Research, the methodology has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This survey is used to identify energy-related employment within key subsectors of the broader industries as classified by the BLS and to assign them into their component energy and energy efficiency sectors.
Past Clean Jobs and other California Reports:
- California’s Offshore Wind Opportunity 2023
- Clean Jobs California 2021
- Clean Jobs California 2020
- Clean Jobs California 2019
- Clean Jobs California 2018
Other Resources
- E2: Clean Economy Works: An Economic Impact Analysis of Major Clean Energy Projects Announced Through Two Years of the Inflation Reduction Act (Oct. 2024)
- E2: 2024 Clean Jobs America – Interactive Map + Tables (Aug. 2024)
- E2’s 9th annual national clean energy jobs analysis, including data on every clean energy sector down to state, county, and metro levels.
- E2: Clean Economy Works: Ongoing tracker and interactive map of the 350+ projects announced by companies since the IRA was passed in August 2022. Updated monthly.
To connect with clean energy business leaders in California, please contact E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake at mtimberlake@e2.org.
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E2 is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment. Our members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and managed more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. For more information, see www.e2.org or follow us on X/Twitter at @e2org and Bluesky at @e2org.bsky.social.