Dr. Roger H. Bezdek

Management Information Services Inc.

This paper estimates and forecasts the green economies and green jobs in the USA states of Colorado and Pennsylvania. The industry distribution of green jobs in each state is estimated by NAICS code. The occupational distribution of green jobs in each state is estimated by detailed occupational classification and skill levels. Green jobs for each state are forecast for the coming decade. We find substantial differences in the size, structure, distribution, and forecasts of green jobs in each state. We determine that the number of future green jobs in a state is determined by the increasing portion of total jobs in the state comprised of green jobs and the rate of growth of employment in the state, and that green jobs in Colorado are forecast to increase much more rapidly than in Pennsylvania in both percentage and absolute terms. We determine that these changes will alter the future distribution of U.S. green jobs among the states. We also find that the distribution of green jobs among industry sectors in the two states differs significantly. Finally, we find that there are substantial differences in the industrial and occupational distributions of green jobs in Colorado and Pennsylvania. We discuss the implications for Colorado, Pennsylvania, and other states seeking to implement ambitious green initiatives.

Green jobs; green economies; state green economies; state green jobs, green jobs forecast; green occupations; state green jobs strategies

1) https://thenext100.org/greenjobs/.

2) The employment concept used here is a full time equivalent (FTE) job in the U.S. An FTE job is defined as 2,080 hours worked in a year’s time, and adjusts for part time and seasonal employment and for labor turnover. The FTE concept normalizes job creation among full time, part time, and seasonal employment. Thus, for example, two workers each working six months of the year would be counted as one FTE job. An FTE job is the standard job concept used in these types of analyses and allows meaningful comparisons over time and across jurisdictions because it consistently measures the input of labor in the production process.

3) Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Colorado,” prepared for WorkingNation, May 2022; https://workingnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ Green-Economy-of- Colorado.pdf.

4) Here, green jobs are defined as the total number of jobs generated by the green economy. We estimated the total (direct, indirect, and induced) jobs created by the green economies: i) Direct jobs are those created directly in the specific activity or process; ii) indirect jobs are those created throughout the required interindustry supply chain; iii) induced jobs are those created in supporting or peripheral activities; total jobs are the sum or all of the jobs created – direct, indirect, and induced. The total (direct, indirect, and induced) jobs concept is the accepted methodology widely used in studies of this nature and in the peer-reviewed literature. See the discussion in Roger H. Bezdek, “Jobs Created by the Green Economy in the USA,” Environment and Pollution, Vol. 11, No. 1, (March 2022), pp. 21-32.

5) https://www.census.gov/naics/.

6) See the discussion in Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Pennsylvania,” prepared by for WorkingNation, May 2022; https://workingnation.com/ wp- content/uploads/2022/08/Green-Economy-of-Pennsylvania.pdf

7) See Roger H. Bezdek, Robert M. Wendling and Paula DiPerna, “Environmental Protection, the Economy, and Jobs: National and Regional Analyses,” Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 86, No. 1 (January 2008), pp. 63-79.

8) Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Pennsylvania,” op. cit.

9) Bezdek, Wendling, and Paula DiPerna, op. cit.

10) Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Pennsylvania,” op. cit.

11) Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Center for Worforce Information & Analysis, “Pennsylvania Industry Employment 2018-2028 Long-Term Projections,” https://www.workstats.dli.pa.gov/Documents/ Projections/Industrial/PA/PA_LTIP.pdf.

12) https://demography.dola.colorado.gov/economy-labor-force/economic-forecasts/.

13) Pennsylvania job forecasts are derived in Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Pennsylvania,” op. cit.

14) Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Center for Workforce Information & Analysis, op. cit.

15) Pennsylvania green jobs by occupation are given in Management Information Services, Inc., “The Green Economy, Green Jobs, and Green Companies in Pennsylvania,” op. cit.

16) However, these findings and their implications can be further assessed as additional state reports are completed.

17) See U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2022, February 2022.

18) See https://ukcop26.org/.

19) For example, such as the “yellow vest” protests in France; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-electricity/yellow- vests-put-french-government-on-spot-over-power-prices-idUSKCN1PO25Y.

20) For example, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine worldwide interest in green technologies has increased greatly.

21) See the discussion in Management Information Services, Inc., See Management Information Services, Inc., “Defining and Estimating the U.S. the Green Economy and Green Jobs, prepared WorkingNation, 2022; https://workingnation.com/the- green-economy-its-bigger-than-you-think-and-growing-rapidly/.

22) These are listed in the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Standard Occupational Classification, https://www.bls.gov/soc/. Also see U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.

23) There are more than twice as many jobs in in Pennsylvania than in Colorado.

Volume 05 Issue 08 August 2022

There is an Open Access article, distributed under the term of the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.