U.S. Solar Jobs Jumped Almost 25% In the Past Year
Source: Fortune
U.S. Solar Jobs Jumped Almost 25% In the Past Year
Kirsten Korosec
10:36 AM Eastern
The U.S. solar industry employed 260,077 workers last year, a nearly 25% increase in the number of jobs from 2015. That jump was largely driven by a massive increase in solar panel installations, according to a report released Tuesday by the non-profit solar advocacy group The Solar Foundation.* ... The rise in installations was caused by a rapid decrease in the cost of solar panels and unprecedented consumer demand, according to Andrea Luecke, president and executive director of The Solar Foundation.
The National Solar Jobs Census 2016, the seventh annual report on solar employment issued by the foundation, says installed solar capacity is projected to grow a record 14 gigawatts in 2016, almost double the 7.5 GW growth experienced in 2015. With such a gain, solar will likely exceed all other sources of new electric generating capacity for the year, according to the report.
The solar jobs census follows a U.S. Department of Energy study** released last month that found more Americans work in solar than at natural gas or coal power plants. The DOE report says 187,117 workers are employed at coal, oil, and natural gas power plants compared to nearly 374,000 people in the solar industry. (While the jobs census and the DOE report share the same underlying methodology, The Solar Foundation says it applies a significantly more rigorous test in counting solar jobs, which accounts for the disparate figures.)
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A few more highlights:
• One out of every 50 new U.S. jobs was in the solar industry.
• Solar industry employment growth outpaced that of the overall U.S. economy by 17 times as it increased by over 51,000 jobs, for a total of 260,077 U.S. solar workers.
• The number of solar jobs increased in 44 of the 50 states in 2016.
• Women represent a greater proportion of the solar workforce than in previous years, rising from 18.7% in 2013 to 28% in 2016.
• California employs the most solar workers, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada, and Florida.
* http://www.thesolarfoundation.org/
** https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/2017%20US%20Energy%20and%20Jobs%20Report_0.pdf
Read more: http://fortune.com/2017/02/07/us-solar-jobs-2016/
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