Are There Any Green Jobs for You? Where the New Green Jobs Will Be

By Susan Seliger
Who says we can’t afford to go green in these tough economic times? For those gloomy prognosticators, we’d suggest taking a look at a new report that shows how the U.S. can create two million jobs in the next two years by investing in a green economic recovery plan (focusing on six economic strategies, from biofuels to wind power).

If you want to find out if there are going to be any green jobs for you in the new green economy, check out which occupations in each state stand to win jobs. This report from the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, looks at which occupations would be affected by six green economic strategies: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power and cellulosic biofuels.

• Read the report, Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments.

• To see what would happen in this green recovery plan, state-by-state:

> Alaska
> Arizona
> Arkansas
> California
> Colorado
> Florida
> Illinois
> Indiana
> Iowa
> Kansas
> Maine
> Maryland
> Massachusetts
> Michigan
> Minnesota
> Missouri
> Montana
> Nebraska
> Nevada
> New Hampshire
> New Jersey
> New Mexico
> New York
> North Carolina
> North Dakota
> Ohio
> Oregon
> Pennsylvania
> South Carolina
> Tennessee
> Virginia
> Washington
> West Virginia
>Wisconsin

• For an even easier-to-read fact sheet, based on this report, go to the Blue Green Alliances’ fact sheets on these 12 states: Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

• For more on the report and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between labor unions (the “blue” in “blue-collar”) and environmental organizations (the “green”), here’s their web site.

Photo credit: www.city-data.com