Green Jobs Boom in 2023: Is the IRA a Leading Factor?
September 30, 2024
The potential for new, good-paying jobs from investing in a clean energy ecosystem has long been highlighted by proponents of expanding clean energy in America. John Kerry, President Biden’s former Envoy for Climate, famously predicted the energy transition would be the “new industrial revolution.”
While clean energy production and related industries steadily grew in the United States over the past decade, the growth was far from a “new industrial revolution.” Green jobs in the energy sector underperformed the growth of the wider economy in all but two of the last ten years – those being during the COVID lockdowns, and now as of 2023. As of the end of 2023, clean energy jobs grew year over year by 4.7%, compared to 1.8% employment growth for the overall economy. The figure below shows jobs directly involved in clean energy production and transmission/distribution. Other “green” jobs like battery manufacturing for electric vehicles also grew over the past few years.