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More Studies on Green Jobs

By Shems Dunkiel Kassel & Saunders PLLC

Following on the heels of a study from the Pew Charitable Trusts we reported on last week at the Vermont Environmental and Land Use Law blog, two more reports from think tanks and environmental groups suggest that clean-energy investments have the potential to kick-start the economy, employ millions of workers nationwide, especially those at the lower end of the economic scale.

The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and the Center for American Progress provide state-based information of where jobs are most likely to be generated.

According to the report for Vermont:

Investments in a clean-energy economy will generate major employment benefits for
Vermont and the rest of the U.S. economy. Our research finds that Vermont could see a net
increase of about $300 million in investment revenue and 4,000 jobs based on its share
of a total of $150 billion in clean-energy investments annually across the country. This is
even after assuming a reduction in fossil fuel spending equivalent to the increase in cleanenergy
investments.

Adding 4,000 jobs to the Vermont labor market in 2008 would have brought the state?s
unemployment rate down to 3.6 percent from its actual 2008 level of 4.8 percent.

Here is the link to the other report released today, Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards in the United States.

Image Source: Richard Masoner.

Full post as published by Renewable Energy Law Blog on June 25, 2009 (boomark / email).