Michigan grows green jobs sector, according to state report

Jobs tied to sustainability are often seen as replacements for fast evaporating automotive jobs in Michigan, or so the conventional wisdom goes. There might just be some truth to that in the latest Michigan Green Jobs report.

The report notes that Michigan has 109,000 jobs in the private sector that would qualify as green with about 97,000 of those serving as direct green jobs and the rest as support for those jobs. That equates to about three percent of employment in the private sector, leaving a big upside for Michigan.

“There is huge room for growth,” says Andy Levin, deputy director of the state Dept. of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. “This is happening before any of the public policy measures have had a chance to take effect.”

Those policy measures include Michigan’s new Renewable energy Portfolion Standard, which calls for 10 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2015. Several other states and countries have implemented such standards and reaped big job gains.

Germany has pushed aggressively for solar energy. It now has more solar panels on barn roofs than there are solar panels in California, Levin says. That has helped make sustainability one of the fastest growing sectors in the German economy where the number of green jobs are expected to pass the number of automotive jobs next year.

Levin also points out that the growth in green industries like alternative energy and energy efficiency has also helped spur more entrepreneurism in Michigan.

“This is a big area for small businesses and start-ups,” Levin says. “That’s a very encouraging thing.”

Source: Andy Levin, deputy director of the Michigan Dept. of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth
Writer: Jon Zemke