Green Jobs See 2nd Year Of Double-Digit Growth
The clean energy industry in Massachusetts added nearly 8,500 jobs and grew 11.8 percent over the past year, building on double-digit growth the year before, according to the Patrick administration.
The administration unveiled its 2013 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report, which polled 1,500 employers in the clean energy sector, defined as businesses that provide goods and services related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative transportation and carbon management. According to the report, by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), all four regions of the commonwealth saw an increase in clean energy employment between June 2012 and June 2013 with the pace of that growth being eight times faster than the overall 3 percent growth rate of all industries in the state.
The South Coast experienced the most growth, with jobs increasing 14.3 percent. Clean energy jobs in Central Massachusetts expanded 11.9 percent with the region accounting for 15,518 of the state’s 79,997 jobs in the sector.
The state is projecting continued clean energy growth in the sector, with an increase of 11.1 percent over the next year, bringing total jobs in the sector to 88,874. According to the report, 42 percent of employers expect to have more clean energy workers in the coming year, while 3.2 percent expect fewer.
More than half of the state’s 5,557 clean energy companies are small businesses, with no more than five full-time employees.
“The dramatic influx of new firms and the growth in small companies in the industry show the success we’ve had in growing this sector from the ground up,” said MassCEC CEO Alicia Barton. “Our investments in internships and job training, bringing technologies to the marketplace and infrastructure projects are driving this growth and creating jobs across the commonwealth.”
The state said job creation over the past year was overwhelmingly from new companies entering the sector. However, larger companies such as FexEx, Gillette and Shell are credited with adding to clean energy jobs in recent years as they shift into that market.
Manufacturing and assembly jobs were up for the second consecutive year, rising 20.6 percent, while clean energy engineering and research jobs rose 32.4 percent. The report counted solar industry jobs for the first time, with more than 8,400 workers spending at least half of their time supporting solar energy businesses.
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