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Report: Green jobs outpace regular job growth in North Carolina

Jobs in North Carolina’s clean energy economy grew more than twice as fast as overall jobs between 1998 and 2007, according to a green jobs report released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The center performed a 2007 head count of clean energy companies and positions across the country; North Carolina's green jobs grew 15.3 percent to 16,997 in 2007, compared to 6.4 percent for all jobs. This number contrasts sharply with the 6,500 survey-based green jobs estimate performed by the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association last year.

Nationally, jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a rate of 9.1 percent while total jobs grew by only 3.7 percent, between 1998 and 2007.

The center defined green jobs as those supplying products and services generated by the clean energy economy, not the companies using these products and services to make themselves “greener." The jobs fell into the following catergories:  (1) Clean Energy; (2) Energy Efficiency; (3) Environmentally Friendly Production; (4) Conservation and Pollution Mitigation; and (5) Training and Support.

Update: Julie Robinson, communications director for the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, added this note: 

"I wanted to provide more information to explain the difference between these two "green jobs" reports. NCSEA's 2008 Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Industry Census captured the number of green jobs related directly to the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors only, which totaled just over 6,400 as of last summer. At first glance, it appears as though the report conducted by Pew Charitable Trusts looked at a much broader category of jobs (and sectors) in the "clean energy" industry, thus you can't compare NCSEA's findings to that of Pew."

Update: Additional green jobs reports were released last week.