The percentage of employees in Iowa’s clean energy sector increases 7 percent from 2015.
Around 30,418 people now work in clean energy in Iowa according to an analysis released today by Clean Energy Trust (CET) and the national nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).
Job growth across sectors including renewable energy generation, advanced grid, energy efficiency, clean fuels, and advanced transportation is occurring 12 times faster than overall job growth in Iowa. About 25 percent of all wind energy jobs in the Midwest are in Iowa, home to 7,420 wind energy workers.
?It?s no surprise Iowa leads the region in wind energy jobs. But the report also found that job growth across many sectors (including renewable energy and fuels, advanced grid, energy efficiency and advanced transportation) is happening 12 times faster than all other jobs in the state,” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said.
Iowa?s clean energy workforce employs more than 13 times as many people than all the computer programmers and web developers in the state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The Midwest has witnessed declining manufacturing employment over the years, and this report highlights the important role of clean energy jobs in filling the gap for the region’s workforce,” said Erik G. Birkerts, CEO of Clean Energy Trust. “We’re optimistic that this growth engine can continue unabated as the Midwest continues to prove it is a fertile region for clean energy innovation, enabling businesses to launch, grow and create jobs.”
The analysis is available at www.CleanJobsMidwest.com. It is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and a comprehensive survey of thousands of businesses across the region conducted by BW Research Partners.
The Clean Jobs Midwest report provides detailed breakdowns of clean energy jobs? including job totals for every county, congressional district, and state legislative district in the 12-state Midwest region of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. There are 599,775 clean energy jobs in the entire region.
