New Hampshire, USA --
Today The Solar Foundation (TSF), a non-profit organization that
seeks to further the understanding of solar energy through research and
public education, released its 4th National Jobs Census report, which
shows remarkable growth in the U.S. labor market as it pertains to solar
energy employment.
In total there were 142,698 solar workers in the U.S. as of
November 2013. A solar worker is defined as someone who devotes at least
50 percent of his or her work to solar-related activities. This is a
20 percent increase over 2012 figures and ten times higher than the
national average employment growth rate, which was 1.9 percent. "This
is our most comprehensive [report] yet," said Andrea Luecke, Executive
Director & President of The Solar Foundation, explaining that collecting the data involved making more than 74,000 phone calls and sending out more than 11,000 emails.
Solar project developers were the big winners in terms of job growth
rate. In 2012 there were almost 8,000 solar workers who defined
themselves as project developers whereas in 2013 that number jumped to
more than 12,000, a 52 percent uptick. According to Luecke, the large
increase reflects the huge number of utility-scale projects that were
under construction in 2013.
As has been long-predicted, because solar project costs have dropped
so dramatically in recent years, the industry added the the largest
number of jobs in installation. Just under 70,000 people are employed in
the solar installation business, a 21 percent increase over 2012. TSF
predicts that 2014 will again add 21 percent more jobs, a number that
would bring the industry solar installation total to more than 84,000 by
this time next year. CEO Lyndon Rive said that SolarCity
added 2,000 "highly-distributed" jobs in 2013. Solar installation jobs
are "not in any central hub," he explained, as is the case with other
industries such as finance in NYC or high-tech in Silicon Valley. "We
are in 14 states," he said. "Growth for the next 10 years in solar is
going to be very, very exciting," Rive added. "You can't outsource these
jobs."
Making a small comeback were solar manufacturing jobs — the sector
lost 8,000 jobs between 2011 and 2012 but showed an increase of 100
solar workers in 2013. The sector now employs 29,851 people. Luecke
explained that these numbers are a "vast improvement over last year" and
said that manufacturers are feeling a little bit more secure in 2013
than they were in 2012, which is why the TSF predicts and increase of
8.6 percent in 2014. Higher numbers in 2014 may also be attributed to
more startups entering the sector this year.
Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower
explaned that his company added "hundreds" of jobs in 2013 and expects
to add more in 2014. "We also have 400 SunPower dealers who employ
6,000 more people," he said. Not to mention the "70 parts suppliers
throughout the country," he added.
The National Solar Jobs Census 2013 also reports data about salaries
paid by solar firms. According to TSF, wages paid by solar firms are
competitive, with the average solar installer earning between US$20.00
(median) and $23.63 (mean) per hour, which is comparable to wages paid
to skilled electricians and plumbers and higher than average rates for
roofers and construction workers. Production and assembly workers earn
slightly less, averaging $15.00 (median) to $18.23 (mean) per hour,
slightly more than the national average for electronic equipment
assemblers.
In addition, the solar industry is a great employer of U.S. armed
forces veterans. TSF said that veterans make up about 9 percent of the
solar workforce compared with 7.5 percent of the national economy. On
the other hand, women and African Americas are underrepresented.
The chart below shows the number of solar workers in each sector of
the industry as well as TSF's 2014 predicitions. State-level numbers
will be realsed in about one month. Download the entire report at this link.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/01/solar-jobs-growing-ten-times-faster-than-national-average-employment-growth
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