Growth Anticipated in Green Jobs

Jobs in environmental services and renewable energy will expand quickly, a state report predicts

Solar panel and insulation installers are expected to see an increase in green jobs, according to a report by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Here, solar panels are visible in a walkway at Punahou School

Dec 21, 2010 - Jobs in the renewable energy field in Hawaii are expected to grow at a faster rate than the overall work force, surpassing 14,000 positions by 2012, according to a new study.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said there are 11,145 so-called green jobs in the private sector representing 2.4 percent of total employment. That number is forecast to grow by 26 percent through the next two years, reaching 14,048, or 2.9 percent of total employment, the department said.

"For the purposes of this report we consider a green job to be one that engages in economic activity that makes a positive impact on the environment or energy sustainability, either on a full- or part-time basis," according to the report released yesterday.

The 74-page report was paid for by $1.2 million in federal stimulus funds provided to the state last December under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funds paid for three full-time and two part-time positions for 18 months, as well as other program costs, including licensing rights for software.

One of the challenges in putting the report together was to define what exactly constitutes a "green" job, the department said. The department said it looked at criteria used by other states, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Workforce Information Council. {continued}