news-record.com

Greensboro may not be as green as its name suggests, at least when it comes to creating clean-economy jobs.

A recent Brookings Institution report says that between 2003 and 2010, the Greensboro-High Point area added only 639 green jobs, for a growth rate of 1.7 percent annually.

A co-author of the report, Jonathan Rothwell, called the area’s growth “relatively anemic.”

In fact, it’s lower than the green growth rates for the nation, the state and North Carolina’s two other major metros, Raleigh and Charlotte.

The report said the Greensboro-High Point area ranked 86th nationally in both clean-economy job creation and the rate of job growth.

Rothwell blamed the area’s poor showing on the impact of the two recessions that devastated the area in the past decade.

“It seems to be largely carrying over to the green economy,” Rothwell said of the downturns in 2001 and 2007-2009. “(Greensboro-High Point) doesn’t rate too well when it is compared to the nation or other metros.”

The report defines clean or green jobs as the area of the economy that produces goods and services with an environmental benefit. It says the sector provides an important source of industrial innovation, good-paying manufacturing jobs and exports “for a nation that needs them.”

The report comes at a time when a Florida firm says it’s considering Guilford County for a $1.4 billion solar farm.

Landing the project would add 120 clean jobs locally during the next five to six years. But Rothwell stressed that the area should concentrate on creating jobs that build solar panels rather than ones that just install and maintain them.

“One of the things that has held Greensboro back, it has not been a strong innovator,” Rothwell said. “It hasn’t been able to create new businesses in the fast-growing industries of the clean economy.

“This is less a problem in places like Durham and Raleigh, where a cadre of highly skilled inventors reside and are able to put their ideas into new businesses.”

Overall, the report says, the Greensboro area has 5,725 green jobs and ranks 76th nationally among the nation’s 100 largest metros. Raleigh ranks 30th and Charlotte 33rd.

Greensboro’s total makes up 1.7 percent of all the jobs in the region, which includes Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties.

“That measures those jobs relative to all jobs in the region,” said Andrew Brod, senior research fellow at UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics. “I think that’s a better way to gauge how big we are.”

Brod also said the area’s ranking in green jobs compares well with the region’s 71st rank in population.

The area produced some bright spots in the report.

For one, clean economy jobs in Greensboro, on average, produce $23,679 in exports. That ranks 20th nationally. Charlotte came in 25th; Raleigh 88th.

“That’s where we seem to stand out,” Brod said. “We are still manufacturing intensive.”

For another, the estimated median wage in Greensboro’s clean economy was $35,381. That compares to $34,597 for all jobs in the area.

And the area’s share of clean jobs that offer good pay for modest education ranked ahead of the state, the top 100 metros and the nation at nearly 74 percent.

The report says the area saw significant growth in green architecture and construction services, professional services, air and water-purification technologies and recycling and reuse jobs.

“It’s less about creating new jobs than incorporating new techniques into existing jobs,” said John Quinterno, of South by North Strategies, a research firm in Chapel Hill. “We are not looking at jobs that are yet to be invented. We are looking at bringing new skills to existing work.”

Long term, local leaders say they see reason for optimism for the economy at large and for green jobs.

They say efforts at UNCG and N.C. A&T, particularly their Joint School Of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, will help produce economic activity.

“It is going to take some time for those to generate the research activity, the ideas and then the jobs,” said Pat Danahy, president and CEO of the Greensboro Partnership, which oversees economic development in the city. “It’s a huge plus for us going forward.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com