The state’s half a million green jobs represent about 3.8 percent of its total workforce. That’s just ahead of Oregon, Washington and Michigan, which all conducted similar studies. Bonnie Graybill with the state’s Employment Development Department led the research.
Graybill: “The most employment – and this is very interesting – the industry with the most employment in green jobs is manufacturing.”
Remarkable, Graybill says, because of the broad perception of the industry’s decline in recent years. Coming in second – and also interesting to Graybill – construction, despite the poor housing market.
Graybill: “There’s a big push towards weatherization and making buildings more energy efficient, even though maybe new buildings aren’t being built.”
The findings come from a representative sample of California businesses across all sizes, industries and parts of the state.
