Oregon’s Green Jobs
September 6, 2024The green economy plays a crucial role in Oregon’s effort to address climate change and promote a healthy environment. Green jobs have been increasingly in demand in Oregon and many green occupations are projected to grow strongly over the next decade.
Defining a Green Job
There are many definitions around what constitutes a “green job”. Generally, definitions converge around jobs related to renewable energy or environmental protection. However, many other less traditionally green occupations play a role in the green economy.
In a recent report, Lightcast, in collaboration with WorkingNation, explored different ways in which occupations can relate to the green economy. Rather than a single catch-all definition, they outlined four kinds of green jobs based on varying degrees of interaction with green skills or output:
- Core green jobs are directly tied to the green economy, i.e. environmental protection, conservation, or renewable energy.
- Green enabled jobs are separate or tangent to the green economy but are seeing an increasing demand for green skills.
- Green enabling jobs are jobs that don’t require green skills but are housed in a firm working in the green economy.
- Potential green jobs are jobs that may not currently require green skills but might in the near future.
Using these definitions, let’s explore the role of core green jobs in Oregon’s labor market.
Core Green Jobs Encompass a Broad Range of Occupations
Workers from a wide range of skills and educational backgrounds directly participated in Oregon’s green economy in 2023. According to the Lightcast-Conference Board’s Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) index, there were 64 different core green occupations, varying from hydrologists to fallers.
These occupations represented eighteen broad occupational groups. Occupations in the life, physical, and social science occupational group were most represented in core green jobs. There were thirteen different core green occupations in this group. Other occupational groups with a relatively high number of core green occupations included architecture and engineering, and sales and related, both of which had seven core green occupations.
Out of the 64 detailed occupations, environmental scientists had the most total online job postings in 2023 at 1,160. Other occupations with a relatively large number of total job postings included laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (940); occupational health and safety specialists (590); environmental engineers (460); and construction and building inspectors (350).
Online Demand for Core Green Jobs Higher Than Pre-Pandemic
Online postings for core green jobs remained relatively strong in 2023. In 2019 and 2020, an average of around 350 ads posted per month. In 2021, the monthly average increased to 540 before increasing again to 660 in 2022. In 2023, average monthly ads lowered slightly to 600, lower than 2022, but still close to double pre-pandemic levels.
Occupations Related to Renewable Energy Lead Core Green Projections
Renewable energy generation is an important part of the green economy and a large part of Oregon’s overall power generation. According to a 2023 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 62% of Oregon’s in-state electricity was generated through renewable energy resources in 2023. Of this 62%, almost two-thirds (or 42% of total generation) came from hydroelectric power, making Oregon the fourth-largest hydroelectric power producer in the nation after Washington, California, and New York.
Despite its prevalence, hydropower generation has slowly decreased as a percentage of total energy generation in Oregon as other renewable sources have become more prevalent. Nonhydroelectric renewable power generation has doubled since 2011. Wind energy has become especially prominent, accounting for 15% of Oregon’s total in-state electricity generation in 2023. Solar energy supplied about 4%.
The increasing role of nonhydroelectric renewable power generation is reflected in the Oregon Employment Department’s occupational projections. The two core green occupations with the fastest projected growth rate between 2022 and 2032 are directly related to nonhydroelectric renewable energy production. Wind turbine service technicians are projected to be the fastest growing core green occupation with around a 35% growth rate over the next decade, followed by solar photovoltaic installers (34%), first-line supervisors of entertainment and recreation workers (24%), geoscientists (23%), and geological technicians (22%). The total projected growth rate among all occupations in Oregon is just over 10%.
