Global Trends in Green Job Statistics
Global demand for workers with green skills has risen by 11.6% over the last year, while supply only increased by 5.6%. This trend continues from previous years. As soon as 2030, one in five green jobs could go unfilled, seriously threatening the transition to a green economy. Consequently, individuals with green skills enjoy a hiring rate 54.6% higher than the overall workforce, defying the trend of a slowing labor market.
Renewable Energy Sector Growth:
- The renewable energy industry is expanding significantly; the market for mass-manufactured technologies like batteries, solar panels, and heat pumps is expected to create close to 14 million manufacturing jobs supporting renewable energy – more than double what exists today.
- In the U.S., hiring in the renewable energy sector has been consistently surpassing fossil fuel hiring since June 2020, now 120% higher. However, renewables companies report a shortage of highly qualified talent.
- Annual renewable energy investments, including private capital and public spending, rose from USD 348 billion in 2020 to USD 499 billion in 2022, reflecting a 43% gain. A major portion of these funds has been directed toward the solar and wind industries, which saw their combined share of overall renewable energy investments rise from 82% in 2013 to 97% in 2022.
Labor Market Insights:
- LinkedIn’s research indicates that green job vacancies are increasing, but workers with green skills are in short supply. Job postings for ‘green’ roles are growing nearly twice as fast as the number of skilled workers, with only one in eight individuals currently possessing skills relevant to abating the climate crisis.
- Between 2022 and 2023, the share of talent with relevant skills grew by 12.3%, while job postings requiring green skills surged by 22.4%. Job seekers with green skills were nearly a third more likely to be hired (29%) than the workforce average, highlighting a significant gap between demand and available talent.
Gender Disparities:
- Behind these headline statistics, LinkedIn’s Green Gender Gap Report 2023 reveals significant gender differences; only 1 in 10 women possess at least one green skill, compared to 1 in 6 men. Alarmingly, this gender gap has grown by 25% over the past seven years, suggesting that the transition to green jobs is not inclusive.
- To combat this issue, educational and training programs must be expanded and designed to tap talent among underrepresented groups, including women, youth, and minorities.
Current Employment Numbers:
- The global renewable energy sector directly or indirectly employed 13.7 million people in 2022, up from 7.3 million in 2012, primarily due to growth in solar PV, bioenergy, hydropower, and wind power.
- Close to two-thirds of all renewable energy jobs are located in Asia, with China accounting for 41% of the global total. Specifically, there were 4.9 million solar photovoltaic jobs in 2022, establishing solar PV as the fastest-growing sector in renewable energy.
- An estimated 30 million new green jobs are projected globally over the next decade, indicating significant sector expansion.
- In the U.S. alone, there were more than 4.2 million climate jobs in 2022, with a clean energy job creation growth rate of 3.9%, surpassing overall job growth.
Robust policy initiatives are essential for creating green jobs. Examples include the EU’s 2023 carbon tariff, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. Additionally, the World Economic Forum’s Reskilling Revolution platform is working to provide better education, skills, and economic opportunities to one billion people by 2030, with over half of these efforts focused on preparing workers for green jobs.
The Rapid Growth of Green Jobs in America
The rise of a green economy has resulted in a renewed focus on green jobs. According to analysis by Lightcast and WorkingNation, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of green jobs since 2019.
Projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) illustrate further gains through 2031 across a variety of occupations. The following occupations are expected to see significant growth:
- Wind turbine technicians: +44.3%
- Solar installers: +27.2%
- Electricians: +7.1%
- Recyclable material collectors: +5.4%
All these occupations have a projected growth rate faster than the national average across all occupations (+5.3%).
Moreover, hiring and training more workers in the green transition to a cleaner, more resilient economy represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The scale of the needed climate investment to fuel this transition could exceed $2.5 trillion over the next decade, as cited by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Millions of additional workers will likely be needed in the years to come, on top of the 8 million workers already involved in renewable energy alone.
However, demand for green skills currently outpaces the skills base. LinkedIn reports that between 2022 and 2023, the share of talent with skills to address the climate crisis grew by 12.3%. In contrast, the share of jobs posted over the same period that required at least one green skill increased by nearly twice as quickly, at 22.4%.
In total, there were more than 4.2 million climate jobs in 2022. Additionally, clean energy jobs grew at more than double the rate (4.9%) of job growth in the rest of the economy (2.0%), adding 149,000 new jobs.
Finally, most of the relevant cities—47 of 50—mention green jobs in their Climate Action Plans (CAPs), but they do so only in passing. About half of the cities (24) emphasize workforce needs around building upgrades and retrofits, while even fewer (20) focus on transportation improvements. Only 11 of the 50 cities include information on funding or additional programmatic support for workforce development.
Identifying Key Skills Required for Green Jobs
Green jobs focus on restoring or enhancing environmental quality, such as reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, building capacity for renewable energy, and conserving healthy ecosystems. Jobs might include solar panel installers, recycling workers, environmental engineers, and landscape architects.
Water management jobs encompass engineering and construction related to water infrastructure and flood mitigation. The common thread is that blue-green jobs are engaged in making the environment, economy, and communities more resilient and sustainable.
According to the Department of Labor, the impact of green economy activities could alter demand for specific skills in the following ways:
- Existing skills with increased demand, such as installing residential solar panels from traditional skillsets.
- Green enhanced skills, where workers in traditional occupations acquire new skills specific to green projects.
- New or emerging skills for entirely new occupations, including climate change analysts and carbon sequestration installers.
Previous research indicates that very few green jobs are entirely new; however, many resemble existing jobs with new tasks requiring upgraded skills.
The transition to a green economy requires a workforce with the right skills. This includes not only skills in the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector but also those needed to help all businesses use natural resources efficiently and sustainably and to be resilient to climate change.
The Global Green Skills Report 2023 provides new data on green skills and jobs to help transition the global workforce to a green economy future. The fastest-growing green skills are in:
- Ecosystem Management
- Environmental Policy
- Pollution Prevention
Skills for green jobs are a combination of knowledge, competencies, and attitudes needed to thrive in sustainable economies. They may include technical knowledge, expertise, and abilities that enable the effective use of green technologies and processes in professional settings.
Top Emerging Green Job Roles in Today’s Market
A 2024 Capgemini report indicates a significant shift, with over half of organizations planning to increase sustainability investments within two years. This shift is spotlighting the creation of numerous green jobs. Job postings for roles requiring green skills surged by 22.4% from 2022 to 2023. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are leading the charge. This trend is driven by the urgent need for skills in renewable energy, eco-building design, and sustainable operations management.
Moreover, green jobs rose from 13.7 million in 2022 to 16.2 million in 2023, reflecting an 18 percent increase. The top five locations for renewable energy jobs are China, the European Union, Brazil, the US, and India.
In terms of employment outlook, Teamlease Digital’s CEO, Sunil Chemmankotil, projects up to 35 million green jobs in India by 2047. The LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2023 showcases a growth in green talent from 9.6% in 2015 to 13.3% in 2021, which underscores the global momentum towards embracing sustainability in the workforce.
Furthermore, leading industries in green hiring include healthcare, BFSI, and consulting sectors. This demonstrates a broad-based commitment to sustainability across industries. The demand for renewable energy, environmental health safety (EHS), and sustainability expertise underscores the critical role of green skills in shaping the future of work.
Additionally, new LinkedIn data in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report shows that hiring for green roles consistently outpaced the overall hiring rate globally for four years in a row. For many job seekers, green jobs are seen as a safe bet in a cooling labor market. Roles like sustainability analysts, sustainability specialists, and sustainability managers feature in LinkedIn’s lists of the fastest growing roles – Jobs on the Rise – globally over the last four years.
Interestingly, the vast majority of green skills are being utilized in jobs that aren’t traditionally thought of as green. Examples include fleet managers, data scientists, or health workers. The green skills revolution has the potential to transform our working lives in the same way the rise of the internet and digital connectivity did, but we’re not recognizing the scale of change required.
While global demand for green skills has risen by 40% since 2015, only 13% of the labor workforce actually possesses the skills that organizations need and want. It’s clear that collectively we aren’t moving fast enough to upskill professionals with the necessary skills to meet net-zero targets.
Finally, Germany is adopting more green skills in its manufacturing industry than the global average, while India and the US are leading the way in the oil and gas and mining sectors. Workers in these sectors are reporting higher green skills compared to those in other countries.
Understanding the Impact of Green Jobs on the Economy
Green skills are essential to the transition towards a green economy. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 24 million jobs worldwide could be created by the green economy by 2030 alone.
A shift towards green jobs is already underway. LinkedIn jobs data shows that in 2015, the ratio of US oil/gas jobs to renewables/environment jobs was 5:1; however, by 2020, this was reduced to 2:1. At this rate, we expect that renewables and environment jobs could actually outnumber oil and gas jobs on our platform by 2023. This indicates a major pendulum shift towards green jobs in a relatively short period.
As the need for greener roles grows, employers are increasingly focused on green skills rather than university degrees. This trend is partly due to high demand and the relatively low supply of talent. Furthermore, greener industries tend to grow faster than the overall economy. For every percentage-point increase in an industry’s green intensity (the share of employment in green jobs), annual employment growth was 0.034 percentage points higher.
Additionally, projections for the next 10 years suggest continued job benefits from green intensity. States with greater green intensity have generally fared better in the current economic downturn. Notably, green jobs are accessible to workers without a college degree. For every one percentage-point increase in green intensity in a given industry, there was a corresponding 0.28 percentage-point increase in the share of jobs held by workers without a four-year college degree.
Manufacturing plays a significant role in the green economy. Although it represents only 10.8 percent of total private employment, manufacturing accounts for 20.4 percent of green jobs. It is important to note that green jobs extend beyond the renewable energy industry. For instance, nearly 50 percent of jobs in the water industry are green jobs, presenting opportunities for growth not just overall but also in green intensity.
The strong economic performance of green industries suggests that green investments could play an important role in broader short- and long-term job creation strategies. Investments in green jobs could promote economic mobility by opening up the labor market to more workers without a college degree. Importantly, the investment opportunities for going green are vast throughout nearly all industries.
Over the next decade, we expect to see millions of new jobs created globally due to new climate policies and commitments. Moreover, green employment dynamics positively correlate with local green subsidies within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, local green knowledge, and resilience to the Great Recession.
Finally, it has been found that one additional green job is associated with 4.2 (2.2 in the crisis period) new local jobs in non-tradable non-green activities.
