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America’s Greenest Economies Are Booming - First Green Jobs Index

Despite the sudden collapse of Wall Street, there is a least one bright spot in the U.S. economy. And it happens to be green.

The U.S. economy has created more than 750,000 green jobs—a number that is projected to grow five-fold to more than 4.2 million jobs over the next three decades, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Roughly 85% are located in metropolitan areas.

The report measures the number of direct and indirect jobs in the emerging U.S. green economy. Roughly half of those jobs (419,000)were found in the category of Engineering, Legal, Research and Consulting, highlighting the important role supportive or “indirect” jobs play in moving the economy toward energy independence. The second largest category was Renewable Power Generation (127,000 jobs), followed by Agriculture and Forestry providing a significant contribution of 57,500 jobs.

Under assumed scenarios and with government commitment and investments, the report projects Green Jobs could contribute 10% of new jobs through 2038, representing the fastest growing job segment in the U.S. economy. By 2038, the report forecasts that renewable electricity production will create 1.23 million jobs; alternative transportation fuels 1.5 million jobs; engineering, legal, research and consulting positions will be more than 1.4 million; and commercial and residential retrofits at 81,000 jobs, for a total of 4.2 million.