Characterising green employment: the impacts of 'greening' on workforce composition

Bowen, Alex, Kuralbayeva, Karlygash and Tipoe, Eileen L. (2018) Characterising green employment: the impacts of 'greening' on workforce composition. Energy Economics, 72. pp. 263-275. ISSN 0140-9883

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Abstract

This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the green economy, and presents different measures for the ease with which workers are likely to be able to move from non-green to green jobs. Using the US O*NET database and its definition of green jobs, 19.4% of US workers are part of the green economy in a broad sense, although most green employment is 'indirectly' rather than 'directly' green, comprising existing jobs that are expected to be in high demand due to greening, but do not require significant changes in tasks, skills, or knowledge. Analysis of task content also shows that green jobs vary in 'greenness', with very few jobs only consisting of green tasks, suggesting that the term 'green' should be considered a continuum rather than a binary characteristic. While it is easier to transition to indirectly green rather than directly green jobs, greening is likely to involve transitions on a similar scale and scope of existing job transitions. Non-green jobs generally appear to differ from their green counterparts in only a few skill-specific aspects, suggesting that most re-training can happen on-the-job. Network analysis shows that the green economy offers a large potential for short-run growth if job transitions are strategically managed.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-economics...
Additional Information:	© 2018 The Authors © CC BY 4.0
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J62 - Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O51 - U.S.; Canada
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2018 08:47
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2024 23:00
Projects:	ES/K006576/1
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/87472

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