The American Solar Energy Society reports that by 2030 one in four workers will be wearing green collars at work. The report estimates the creation of up to 40 million green collar jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Sounds promising, but is it real?
There is still some confusion though about what constitutes a "green collar" job and whether these jobs will survive the current eco-focused political climate.
Van Jones, author of the book "Green Collar Economy" says that most green-collar jobs are middle-skill jobs. That means they require more education than high school, but less than a four year degree. These jobs are within reach for lower-skilled and low-income workers, as long as they have access to effective training programs. These jobs are the first step on a pathway to economic self-sufficiency.
He positions "Green collar" installer jobs as the 2.0 version of old-fashioned blue-collar jobs, upgraded to respect the Earth and meet the environmental challenges of today. Green collar jobs are not high-tech and futuristic. The emerging green economy is not about George Jetson with a jet pack, but rather Joe Sixpack, with a hardhat and a lunch bucket, ready to install solar panels in every home in his neighborhood. The most important piece of technology in the green economy, according to Jones will be a caulk gun.
Remembering that of the Green Jobs, which cut across many domains, that the Green Collar jobs that he speaks of are specifically referencing the people who install and service these new energy efficient upgrades for homes and businesses. There are lots of other "Green" jobs that are included in the American Solar Energy count that do require different skills.
But remember, that the Green Jobs Act is intending to increase the number of the "Green Collar" installation and service jobs that of necessity, require manual labor, and can't be outsourced, from a practical sense.
Will these jobs be around for a while? Consider this: This type of work is difficult if not impossible to outsource. You can’t pick up a house, ship it to China to have solar panels installed, and then have it shipped back.
Unfortunately, there is not, as one might expect, a generally accepted definition of what a "green job" is. Jones comments: "Well, we still don’t have a unified definition, and that’s not unusual in a democracy. It takes a while for all the states and the federal government to come to some agreement. But the Department of Labor is working on it very diligently. Fundamentally, it’s getting there, but we haven’t crossed the finish line yet."
Now I'd like you to consider that Van Jones also is a noted pioneer in this area, having worked successfully with Congress to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. You'd think that he might be somewhat of an authority in this area, maybe someone that policymakers might want to have deeply involved in this important effort? Maybe he is a voice we should be listening to, and possibly get this movement going a bit quicker?
I guess only time will tell....
