Green jobs: enough to counter mass layoffs?
The key to stemming job losses in America’s manufacturing heartland are green jobs, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in last night’s state of the state address, a paean to the job-creation potential of things like wind-turbine factories and solar plants. But a close look at her speech shows how new green jobs in Michigan, and the rest of the country, are still a drop in the bucket compared to old-industry job losses.
The implosion of Detroit automakers and resulting job losses there “have fueled our determination to bring new industries to Michigan – not just new businesses – entire new industries,” the governor said. “The renewable energy industry is already providing new jobs and better lives across our state,” thanks to Michigan’s active courtship of clean-energy companies, she said.
Gov. Granholm specifically cited a half-dozen new factories in Michigan bringing some of those fabled green jobs. Together, though, they will only provide about 1,620 permanent jobs.
To wit: Hemlock Semiconductor’s new solar facility, 576 jobs; Mariah Power, 141 jobs; Global Wind Systems, 350-odd direct jobs; Cascade Swift Turbines, about 10; Uni-Solar’s expanded plant, 350; and the just-announced Great Lakes Turbine plant, which will mean about 190 more. The real jackpot, the governor said, will come in a rejuvenated auto industry, with as many as 14,000 jobs coming from a new electric-car battery plant.
Either way, the small scale of green employment seems a far cry from the Obama administration’s goal of creating as many as 5 million new jobs by boosting alternative energy. Wind power had its best-ever year in the U.S. in 2008, and created 7,300 new jobs total through the third quarter, before the credit crunch and layoffs began.
And the pace of green-job creation also pales compared to old-industry job destruction; GM and Chrysler are reportedly offering buyouts to 91,000 auto workers. Planet Gore, no fan of the Michigan governor’s green dreams, figures the state has lost 300,000 jobs on her watch. New employment numbers released Wednesday show about 500,000 more jobs were lost nationally in January.
Gov. Granholm recognizes that the state’s green-jobs push is just the beginning—“we need more jobs – a lot more”—but is still banking on “surging demand for renewable energy to increase the supply of good-paying jobs in Michigan.”
Just as renewable energy represents just a fraction of the nation’s power supply, renewable-energy jobs look like they’ll stay a niche market for a while yet, too.
By Keith Johnston
Environmental Capital — WSJ.com
4 February 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
- Energy experts warn Michigan of green gamble
- Granholm pushes for energy mandate to interest Japanese firms
- Green, as in plants
- Granholm touts green energy while others are skeptical
- Sen. Brown: Renewable energy mandate job estimates inflated, pocketbooks about to be raided
- Granholm's energy answer isn't blowing in the wind
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