Pew Study: Michigan 10th in Clean Energy Jobs Nationwide

This only runs through 2007, so the job totals are lower than our recent Green Jobs Report - and both were before the RPS kicked in, and started to create even more jobs. So, who knows where we are sitting at this very moment - but nice to know the statistics on how fast it was/is growing.

Michigan has the 10th largest number of clean energy jobs in the nation, a new report released today shows.

The study by the Pew Charitable Trusts provides the first tally of the size of the nation’s clean energy industry, which includes everything from producing wind and solar power to making hybrid vehicle engines and advanced car batteries.

In Michigan, the sector accounted for 22,674 jobs at 1,932 businesses in 2007, Pew researchers found. Though these numbers are still relatively small, jobs in Michigan’s clean energy sector grew by 10.7% between 1998 and 2007, compared with a 3.6% decline for all industries in the state.

Nationwide, clean energy jobs grew 9.1% from 1998-2007, "about two and a half times faster than job growth in the economy as a whole". Not bad for a trendy fad, eh? Pretty soon it will catch up (and surpass) the "fossil" fuel sector.

Overall, some 770,000 jobs in the nation are tied to the clean energy economy, the Pew researchers found — and they predicted more growth in the sector. By way of comparison, the “fossil fuel sector” of utilities, coal mining and oil and gas extraction accounted for 1.27 million jobs in 2007, the study said.

Michigan is one of seven states (plus DC) where total jobs fell in the time frame, but jobs in clean energy increased - and they mention that our RPS puts us on the path for further growth. Plus, we were third in the nation for clean tech patents.

Next time, number one! The whole report can be found here.