Repowering America’s Economy in the Wake of COVID-19
At the start of 2020, clean energy employment increased for the fifth straight year since this annual report was first released—growing beyond 3.3 million workers nationwide.
While California remained the nation’s undisputed leader in clean energy jobs through 2019, states as diverse in size and structure as Texas and Massachusetts also are in the top ten for clean energy jobs. Florida, North Carolina and Georgia continued to lead the South, while Michigan, Illinois and Ohio led the Midwest. On a per capita basis of statewide total employment, the Northeast claimed the top five spots with Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Delaware employing the largest share of clean energy jobs per capita in the country.
Overall, clean energy jobs across the country grew by slightly more than two percent in 2019, slower than its nearly four percent growth in 2018. Jobs in renewable energy grew more than three percent, led in part by a rebound in solar jobs. Clean energy storage and grid modernization jobs increased four percent—faster than any other sector—while clean vehicle employment declined by about two percent after a 17 percent jump in 2018. Energy efficiency remains the single biggest sector of the clean energy economy, growing over two percent in 2019 and adding the most net new jobs (54,000) across the entire energy sector.
As a result of the industry’s consistent growth, clean energy accounted for more than 40 percent of America’s entire energy workforce and over 2.25% of the nation’s overall employment at the end of 2019.
INDUSTRY JOB TOPLINES
- Energy Efficiency – 2,378,893 jobs
- Renewable Energy –522,811 jobs
- Solar Energy – 345,393 jobs
- Wind Energy – 114,774 jobs
- Clean Vehicles – 266,368 jobs
- Clean Storage – 76,669 jobs
- Grid Modernization – 67,945 jobs
- ALL US Clean Energy Sectors – 3,355,419 jobs
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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 2020and 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 E2’s Clean Jobs America 2020 or our other Clean Jobs America reports, visit e2.org/reports. You can also contact E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake (mtimberlake@e2.org). An FAQ is also available here to answer any questions.
PAST CLEAN JOBS AMERICA REPORTS
Clean Jobs America 2020 is the 5th national clean energy jobs report from E2. Previous reports can be accessed in the below links.