Gauging green jobs in your backyard
Photo by Flickr user Green for All
It’s more than a novelty or feel-good story; jobs in a variety of alternative energy fields and other environmentally friendly sectors are one of the main hopes for replacing many of the 7 million berths lost during the recession. It’s hoped that displaced manufacturing workers, among others, can find new green trades and professions.
In fact, a few weeks from now the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C. Starting May 4, the conference features more than 100 workshops, an exposition center and guest speakers ranging from union leaders to industry group chiefs. Be worth checking to see if any executives or economic development leaders from your area plan to attend.
The federal government just last month published the definitions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will use in its new endeavor to track green jobs growth. Check out this page from the U.S. Department of Labor for lots of good information regarding the green jobs criteria as well as grants and stimulus programs aimed at promoting job growth and training.
Here’s a link to the BLS page that – while currently embryonic – will be your go-to site for fed stats on green jobs. Note that $8 million this year is budgeted just for the bureau to figure out how to measure green jobs growth!
A number of private-sector sites purport to promote, track and facilitate green jobs, including the aptly named GreenJobs.com and Greenjobs.net. While I don’t vouch for their objectivity, it’s worth exploring these sites and others like it to help yourself generate questions for companies in your region.
The Green Collar blog links to many trade groups and other organizations in the sustainable and renewable energy sector, among others. Worth a look for those resources, news and jobs postings that will give you an idea of what’s considered green in your area.
Other obvious sources to tap include your region’s economic development coalitions and the workforce commission.
GreenLink Employment Solutions is a search firm that specializes in recruiting for green jobs; just another example of how businesses can indirectly profit from the new niche. No doubt other types of vendors and suppliers of workplace education curricula, materials and equipment also are jumping on the green bandwagon; you just need to seek them out.
