Who’s fit for the low-carbon transition? Emerging skills and wage gaps in job ad data

Saussay, Aurelien ORCID: 0000-0003-4786-0019, Sato, Misato ORCID: 0000-0002-9978-9595, Vona, Francesco and O’Kane, Layla (2022) Who’s fit for the low-carbon transition? Emerging skills and wage gaps in job ad data. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Paper (381). Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

As governments worldwide increase their commitments to tackling climate change, the number of low-carbon jobs is expected to grow rapidly. Here we provide evidence on the characteristics of low-carbon jobs in the US using comprehensive online job postings data between 2010-2019. By accurately identifying low-carbon jobs and comparing them to similar jobs in the same occupational group, we show that low-carbon jobs differ from high-carbon or generic jobs in a number of important ways. Low-carbon jobs have higher skill requirements across a broad range of skills, especially technical ones. However, the wage premium for low-carbon jobs has declined over time and the geographic overlap between low- and high-carbon jobs is limited. Overall, our findings suggest there will be labour reallocation costs as workers transition into low-carbon activities. This suggests a role for targeted public investments in re-skilling to minimise transitional costs and ensure a workforce fit to deliver a rapid transition.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publicatio...
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2022 15:09
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2024 00:22
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117253

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