In the U.S last year, solar created 35,000 jobs, a 20 percent increase for the third year in a row – that’s 35,000 new jobs in a year. In that period the U.S solar industry added workers at a rate nearly 12 times faster than the overall economy and accounting for 1.2% of all jobs created in the U.S. over the past year.
Globally, solar continues to grow at exponential rates. Here in New Zealand we saw record growth again last year, up 80% on 2014. And the more solar panels being installed, the more we are growing the workforce.
In the U.S last year, solar created 35,000 jobs, a 20 percent increase for the third year in a row – that’s 35,000 new jobs in a year. In that period the U.S solar industry added workers at a rate nearly 12 times faster than the overall economy and accounting for 1.2% of all jobs created in the U.S. over the past year.
The figures have been released by The Solar Foundation (TSF), an independent non-profit solar research and education organization. “The solar industry has once again proven to be a powerful engine of economic growth and job creation,” said Andrea Luecke, President and Executive Director of The Solar Foundation.
The report highlights the solar workforce in the U.S is larger than some well-established fossil fuel generation sectors, such as the oil and gas extraction industry, which shed 13,800 jobs in 2015. The oil and gas pipeline construction industry, which employs 129,500 workers, lost 9,500 jobs (U.S. BLS) during the same period. The solar industry is already three times larger than the coal-mining industry, which employs 67,929 people (JobsEQ 2015Q3).
Workforce figures for New Zealand are difficult to estimate but SEANZ is working on gathering them. With growth here greater than in the US we can say that solar jobs are increasing in New Zealand and will continue to provide a growing number of jobs for years to come.