Efforts to create large numbers of “green jobs” have had disastrous economic repercussions wherever they have been implemented, most notably in Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark. But President Obama and the American Left are unfazed by the empirical evidence.
The term "green jobs" (a.k.a. "green-energy jobs" or "green-collar jobs") refers to employment in industries dedicated to the decarbonization of the economy; i.e., less reliance on energy derived from fossil fuels, and more reliance on "sustainable" and "renewable" energy sources like the wind and the sun. Apollo Alliance chairman Phil Angelides, a venture capitalist who was the (unsuccessful) Democratic candidate for governor of California in 2006, defines a "green job" as follows: "It has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution and benefit the environment."
For Angelides and his allies the definition of a "green-collar job" extends still further, to include virtually anything that theoretically will foster a cleaner future for America -- i.e., jobs in the public-transit sector, in "green building," and in energy efficiency of all types. In this model, a traditional blue-collar job such as automobile manufacturing becomes a green-collar job if the product is a hybrid vehicle rather than an SUV.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama pledged to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create 5 million new "green-collar jobs." Fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton likewise used that term repeatedly during her campaign, promising that her energy plan would create millions of new "green" employment opportunities as well. Republican John McCain, too, assured voters that the decarbonization of the U.S. economy would ultimately produce "thousands, millions of new jobs in America."
See also:
Green Job Myths (download PDF)
By Andrew Morris et al.
March 12, 2009
The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience
By Kenneth P. Green
February 2011
Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources
By Gabriel Calzada Alvarez
2010
Green Jobs and Scam
By Chris Horner (see his written testimony)
February 15, 2011
The Green Jobs Scam – And Confusion
By Iain Murray
February 23, 2009
California Could Feel Spain's PainTweet
By Gabriel Calzada Alvarez
October 15, 2010