While everyone knows that solar is good for the environment, did you also know that solar is one of the fastest growing sources of new jobs right now?
See this infographic from the National Solar Foundation’s Solar Jobs Census!
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Check out the 2016 Solar Jobs Census
Solar Jobs CensusState of the States
Some facts from the last few years about solar job growth:
- One out of every 50 new jobs added in the United States in 2016 was created by the solar industry, representing 2% percent of all new jobs.
- Solar jobs in the United States have increased at least 20 percent per year for the past four years, and jobs have nearly tripled since the first Solar Jobs Census was released in 2010.
- Over the next 12 months, employers surveyed expect to see total solar industry employment increase by 10 percent to 286,335 solar workers.
- In 2016, the five states with the most solar jobs were California, Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada, and Florida.
- The solar industry supported $154 billion in economic output in 2016 – See the Economic Impact 2016 Fact Sheet for more impact details.
- Solar jobs exist in all 50 states and are growing at a very brisk pace in most states.
- Twenty-eight states (including the District of Columbia) saw positive growth over 2014.
- While this growth was observed in all regions of the country, solar employment remains highly concentrated, with the top six solar states accounting for over 50% of the employment growth seen in the last year.
- As in previous years, California continues to lead in both solar employment and installed solar capacity.Of the 54,690 solar workers in the state, nearly 60% are found in the installation sector. By the end of 2015, California is expected to account for just over 64,000 solar workers, approximately two-thirds of the workers employed by the entire national industry just five years ago.
- Massachusetts saw a significant increase in solar employment in 2014 – to the tune of 3,000 new jobs – unseating Arizona as the second-largest employer of solar workers. Though Arizona fell to 3rd in 2014, solar employment there grew by 7.2% to 9,170 workers, which is especially welcome news given the large decrease in employment seen in the year prior. By the end of 2015, Arizona is expected to employ over 11,000 solar workers – a 13% increase over the 9,800 jobs found in 2012.