REPORT: Clean energy jobs grew 3X faster than rest of U.S. workforce in 2024, but future growth now at risk

• Nearly 3.6 million Americans work across 47 clean energy subsectors

• 520,000 jobs added over last five years, far surpassing growth in fossil fuel and gas and diesel motor vehicle sectors

• 7% of all new US jobs and 82 % of all new energy sector jobs were in clean energy in 2024

WASHINGTON – Clean energy jobs grew more than three times faster than the rest of the U.S. economy in 2024, adding almost 100,000 new jobs and bringing total number of clean energy workers in U.S. to 3.56 million, according to the tenth annual Clean Jobs America report released today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2.

Amid policy uncertainty and an overall slowing of job and economic growth in 2024, the growth in clean energy jobs dropped to its slowest pace since 2020, adding about 50,000 fewer jobs than in 2023.

Still, jobs in solar, wind, batteries, energy efficiency, storage and grid and other clean energy subsectors continued to grow faster than the broader economy, and make up an increasingly larger share of the overall U.S. workforce. More than 7 percent of all new jobs added in the U.S. and 82 percent of all new energy jobs added last year were in clean energy occupations.

E2’s 10th annual Clean Jobs America report comes as the clean energy industry is reeling from recent federal policy decisions to kill projects, revoke tax credits, cancel permits and add new regulatory red tape and legal hurdles aimed at hobbling solar, wind, electric vehicles and other industries. These federal policy assaults come even as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the fastest-growing occupations in America are wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers.

Though not reflected in the 2024 data, recent policy actions by Congress and the Trump administration have already resulted in major job losses in the industry, with more expected to come. According to separate E2 research, since January 2025 companies canceled more than $22 billion planned clean energy related factories and other projects that were expected to create 16,500 new jobs. Analysis by other organizations estimate more than 830,000 jobs could be lost just because of the energy policy rollbacks in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4.

“What these numbers show is that this was one of the hottest and most promising job sectors in the country at the end of 2024,” said Bob Keefe, E2’s executive director. “Now, clean energy job growth is at serious risk – and with it, our overall economy,”

According to E2’s report, clean energy jobs now account for 42 of all energy jobs in America and 2.3 percent of the overall national workforce. More people now work in clean energy related occupations than work as nurses, cashiers, waiters and waitresses, or preschool, elementary, and middle school teachers.

More than 520,000 jobs have now been added by the clean energy and clean vehicle sectors over the last five years, an increase of 17 percent—far exceeding employment gains in fossil fuels, gas and diesel motor vehicles, and the overall U.S. economy.

While the sector added the fewest jobs since the pandemic-fueled unemployment crisis, clean energy still grew more than three times faster than the rest of the U.S. workforce (2.8 percent vs. 0.8 percent) amid an economy-wide slowdown in hiring and rising policy uncertainty. Over the last five years, clean energy companies have added jobs 60 percent faster than the rest of the economy.

“Every year, clean energy jobs become more intertwined and critical to our overall economy,” said Michael Timberlake, director of research and publications for E2. “These jobs are now a vital anchor of America’s energy workforce. The strength of the U.S. job market and the future of our energy economy are now inseparable from the growth of clean energy.”

Energy efficiency remains the top sector for U.S. clean energy jobs, employing nearly 2.4 million workers nationwide after adding 91,000 jobs in 2024. That’s followed by renewable generation (569,000 overall, +9,000 in 2024) and clean vehicles (398,000 overall, -12,000 in 2024). Despite an industry-wide decline across all motor vehicle sectors in 2024, clean vehicle jobs have grown 52 percent since 2020, adding 137,000 jobs.

Over the past five years, no region added more clean energy jobs and at a faster rate than the South – now home to more than 1 million clean energy workers. From Texas to Virginia, Southern states added 41,000 clean energy jobs in 2024. Western and Northeastern states added more than 20,000 jobs respectively. The Midwest added more than 13,000 jobs. See a detailed regional breakdown in the full report.

At the state level, clean energy continues to drive economic prosperity. Twenty-three states are home to at least 50,000 clean energy jobs and just eight states have more workers employed by fossil fuels than clean energy.

Seventeen states have seen their clean energy workforces jump at least 20 percent in the last five years. See table below for more detail.

Methodology

This analysis of U.S. clean energy employment is based on employment data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership for the 2025 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 2025 USEER relies on a unique supplemental survey of 42,800 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.

A full methodology on the sectors and types of jobs this analysis includes and does not include is available in the report here.

Other Resources

• Clean Jobs America 2025 Maps: e2.org/
• Clean Economy Works | IRA Two-Year Economic Impact Analysis
• Clean Economy Works | Monthly Tracking: More details plus an interactive map of each of these projects shows what’s trending in America’s booming clean economy.
• Clean Economy NOW: Stories from the Frontlines of an American Business Revolution: Author, former journalist and E2 Executive Director Bob Keefe’s dives into the passage of the IRA and stories of communities and people impacted by the historic legislation.

Previous Clean Jobs America Reports:

• Clean Jobs America 2024
• Clean Jobs America 2023
• Clean Jobs America 2022
• Clean Jobs America 2021
• Clean Jobs America 2020
• Clean Jobs America 2019
• Clean Jobs America 2018
• Clean Jobs America 2017
• Clean Jobs America 2016

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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 @e2.org.