US clean energy jobs growth rate double that of overall jobs, report says

Clean energy jobs surge in 2023

August 28, 2024 6:31 AM
By Reuters

WASHINGTON —
Jobs in the U.S. clean energy industry in 2023 grew at more than double the rate of the country's overall jobs, and unionization in clean energy surpassed for the first time the rate in the wider energy industry, the Energy Department said on Wednesday.

Employment in clean energy businesses - including wind, solar, nuclear and battery storage — rose by 142,000 jobs, or 4.2% last year, up from a rise of 3.9% in 2022, the U.S. Energy and Employment Report said. The rate was above the overall U.S. job growth rate of 2% in 2023.

Unionization rates in clean energy hit 12.4%, more than the 11% in the overall energy business, it said. That was driven by growth in construction and utility industries and after legislation passed in 2022 including the bipartisan CHIPS Act and President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, the department said.

Construction jobs in clean energy, driven by the legislation and private-sector investments, "is expected to continue for decades to build out the clean energy infrastructure that we need," Betony Jones, the Energy Department's head of energy jobs, told reporters in a call. While unionized members "might move from project to project, there is continuity of that work in order for workers to make a career in that industry," she said.

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