New Jersey’s Green WorkforcePresented to the NJ Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability
August 2, 2011
Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D., Assistant CommissionerTiffany L. Smith, Research Economist
Labor Planning and Analysis New Jersey Department of Labor and
Workforce Development
• Align workforce and education investments with employers' skill needs
• Inform curriculum decisions by providing critical data and using the Talent Networks to create replicable models of employer involvement
• Improve career information available to youth and job seekers
Goals
• Green Labor Market Information Improvement Grant– Project assesses employer demand and supply responses (training /
education) in green / sustainable programs– Deliverables include inventory of education / training programs,
analysis of program completer data, career information, Web Site for dissemination
• State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP) Grant– State Employment and Training Commission– Three-year, $6 million grant for training – Implementation overseen by the SESP Council, comprised of industry
leaders, organized labor and government leaders – Grant opportunities to businesses, industry associations and trade /
labor organizations through a competitive applications process
Context
Defining Green• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines green jobs as
either: ⁻ Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit
the environment or conserve natural resources.⁻ Jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s
production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.
• BLS currently has two survey initiatives to separately measure each type of green job; results are expected next year and annually thereafter• Green Good and Services (GGS) and Green Technologies and Practices
(GTP) surveys
Methodology: Labor Market Data as a Tool to Inform Sector Strategies
Traditionaldata
Real time data
Employer interactions
OUTCOME DATA / Feedback loop
Tale
nt D
evel
opm
ent S
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egy
Data Sources: Strengths / WeaknessesSource Strengths Weaknesses
Traditional data
• Rigorous collection methodology
• Representative samples
• Time lag• Hiring data not available by state• Difficult to discover emerging
skills / occupationsJob postings data
• “Real time”• Proxy for demand• Substantive characteristics
about each listing
• Postings ≠ hiring• Changes in methodologies limit
trend analysis• Not all openings are posted
Employer interactions
• Provides context • Hiring challenges• Insight into future demand
• Not necessarily representative
• Components of NJ’s green economy– Green Energy Production / Renewable Energy
• Companies producing electricity, heat, or fuel generated from renewable sources ; products in the Green Energy supply chain
• 25 percent of employment; 33 percent of wages
– Energy Efficiency – Green Building / Construction / Design• Producers of products and services that improve the energy efficiency of buildings
and the efficiency of energy storage and distribution• 68 percent of employment; 62 percent of wages
– Environmental Remediation / Waste Management• Firms involved with the reduction or elimination of waste materials• Six percent of employment; eight percent of wages
• Employment in firms in green industries was seven percent (200,000) of all state employment in 2009
Green industries
Although a small proportion of online postings include green skills, the skills are concentrated in specific occupational groups• Between January 2010 and March 2011 just 1.7 percent of
New Jersey postings included green skills content• The occupations with the largest proportion of green skills
content were in Architecture and Engineering and Life, Physical and Social Sciences
• Large numbers of occupations with green skills were also found in Management, Installation, Maintenance and Repair, and Sales job postings
Online Job Postings with Green SkillsJanuary 2010 – March 2011
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
10.0%
• Continued partnership with the State Employment and Training Commission (SETC) / State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP) grant
• Final report on analysis of supply and demand in the green sector (late summer)
• Talent development strategy• Career awareness materials • Improved job search-resume matching tools at
jobs4jersey.com, including green job search capabilities
Next Steps
Contact informationAaron Fichtner, Ph.D., [email protected] L. Smith, [email protected]
