1 of 50 New US Jobs in Solar in 2016

February 8th, 2017

The Solar Foundation released their National Solar Jobs Census for 2016 and the numbers look great!

Solar employment grew 25% last year in the US with 51,000 workers added industry wide.

By the end of the year there were over 260,000 people working in solar nationally!

Here are some of the exciting, inspiring highlights from the report:

  • 1 in 50 new jobs added last year in the US were in solar
  • That’s 2% of all new jobs created nationwide!
  • Solar industry jobs creation outpaced most other sectors of the economy.
  • Solar added workers 17 times faster than the overall economy.
  • Every year for the past 4 years solar industry jobs have increased by at least 20% annually.
  • 51,000 solar workers were added in 2016.
  • 80% were newly created positions, 20% were positions with added solar responsibilities.
  • 34% of new jobs were at solar installation companies.
  • Installation companies employ the majority of the solar workforce, followed by the manufacturing.
  • 1/2 of industry jobs serve the residential solar market, with 28% commercial, and 31% utility-scale.
  • Solar is 2nd in total employment amongst energy industries (but only 1.3% of energy generation).
  • Solar employs more workers than natural gas, over 2x as many as coal, and 5x more than nuclear.
  • Solar jobs are good jobs with pay competitive with similar industries – all Renovus jobs are living-wage.
  • Women made up 1/3 of the solar workforce in 2016 and this percentage has been increasing annually.
  • Since 2010 solar industry employment has tripled, adding 166,575 domestic, living-wage jobs.
  • Industry employers conservatively estimate creating 25,000 more jobs this year!

Renovus Solar in Ithaca is proud to be strengthening our community by creating good jobs as we build the clean energy future. Click here to read more about us and what we do.

 

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