So if you work in a green building and have green business practices in place but don’t produce a green product or service, is this a green job?  You produce a green product but use a traditional trade like a welder or CNC operator to manufacture the product, is this a green job? In this economy, the first priority for workers is to secure a job regardless of whether it’s a green job or not. But if you look at current trends in the marketplace such as the huge rise in green technology investment, growing demand for green energy and green buildings and the desire of consumers to have more eco-options, it is a given that job growth in the future will have a tint of green to it.  How much?  That remains to be seen but a recent report has started to benchmark what Connecticut’s current green jobs picture is like and what the future might hold for current and future jobs in the Nutmeg state. 

According to article by Nicholas A. Jolly, an economist with the Connecticut Department of Labor and titled, “How ‘Green’ is Connecticut’s Economy?,” in the December issue of The Connecticut Economic Digest*, it is somewhat difficult to categorize what is and what is not a green job.  As Jolly states “…it is impossible to count the number of “green” jobs because this employment category is not dichotomous, and researchers cannot draw a clear distinction between “green” and “non-green” jobs. What is also clear, however, is that companies and consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious, and this will affect the labor market through some job creation, but, to a much greater extent, by changing the nature of existing occupations.”

The report looks at some traditional environmental jobs in such areas as energy, water, and waste management and looks at several different areas to benchmark so that the state can begin to measure and monitor green job growth.  Overall, the report indicates that this is a start and that the state does have the potential to green some of its current jobs and also create some new ones based on our current industry make-up and the overall growth of the new, green economy.

Read the report (pdf).

* The Connecticut Economic Digest is jointly published by the state departments of Labor and Economic and Community Development.

Filed under: Green Jobs