growing green jobs in america’s urban centers
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1 Center for American Progress | Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers
Growing Green Jobs in America’s
Urban Centers
Jorge Madrid and Brennan Alvarez
September 2011
While leaders in Washingon, D.C., search or ways o creae jobs and
kick-sar our sruggling economy, urban ceners are experiencing seady
growh in he green economy, which is creaing well-paid jobs in commu-
niies ha have el he wors o he recession, paricularly hose wih largenumbers o Arican Americans and Lainos. Tese urban ceners are ideal
or growing a srong and equiable driver o new business and jobs.
Te Grea Recession has no impaced all Americans equally. While coun-
less amilies across all communiies are suering, daa indicae ha black
and Laino households—concenraed in America’s urban ceners—have
el he wors o he economic malaise. In many cases, hese communiies
lack he wealh and educaional asses o hedge agains economic decline.
Green jobs are no magic bulle or solving economic dispariy and jobloss in urban communiies bu hey do oer real opporuniy o rebuild
our sruggling economy wih a srong growh segmen. Green job growh
has oupaced radiional job growh a a rae o nearly 2-o-1 in he
naion’s 100 larges meropolian ceners, all during he peak o he reces-
sion (2008 hrough 2010), according o a new repor by he Brookings
Insiue. Tese urban ceners are he vanguard o green jobs growh,
accouning or 64 percen o all jobs in ha secor.
Individuals wihou a college degree hold a large porion o hese jobs,
which also pay a higher median wage han average. Tis is criical because
hese workers currenly make up nearly 70 percen o he American work-
orce and have radiionally been he anchor o our middle class.
Similar daa are drawn rom a 2010 sudy rom Apollo Alliance, he
Iniiaive or a Compeiive Ciy, and Green or All, which nds ha inner-
ciy green jobs have grown by 11 percen, more han 10 imes he rae o
The green economy is a sector o the
broader economy producing goods an
services that provide environmental
benet. This can include clean energy
production, energy and water ecient
design and construction, mass transit,
conservation, waste management, and
numerous other industries that are pa
o a general shit in the way we use an
produce energy and eliminate waste.
Green jobs include workers in nearly
every industry who are part o the shit
away rom dirty energy and toward a
more sustainable economy. “Green coll
jobs are generally reerenced as paying
living wage and accessible across a bro
range o skill levels, similar to traditiona
“blue collar” jobs. The Brookings Institu
denes “green collar” jobs as paying a
mid-level wage and including the ollow
ing occupational categories: production
transportation, installation, constructiooce administration and support, pro-
tective services, and social services.
Defining green jobs andthe green economy
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inner-ciy job growh in he las decade. Likewise, he Blue Green Alliance nds ha
$93 billion in green invesmens rom he American Recovery and Reinvesmen Ac
has produced nearly 1 million jobs , wih he vas majoriy (80 percen) held by workers
wihou a college degree, and 26 percen in he consrucion indusry.
Poliical leaders and media pundis love o debae he meris and nuances o his emerg-
ing economic secor, and he debae has become quie polarized. Conservaive com-menaors and policymakers have begun o rejec any and all invesmens ha will help
he green economy coninue o grow.
In doing so, hey are rying o sarve he ases runner on a sruggling eam. Despie he
rheoric and poliical angling, he numbers ell a disinc sory: Te green economy is
creaing jobs in he places ha need hem, and hey are he righ jobs or communiies
bearing he wors o he recession.
Furher, even hough progress has no been nearly as enough o ll he void o he 10 mil-
lion jobs los during he recession, and despie he lack o comprehensive ederal policy ospur green growh, progress is sill driving orward. We mus srenghen our eors o grow
and proec his emerging secor, one o he ew brigh spos in our sruggling economy,
which also oers opporuniy o communiies who desperaely need good jobs.
Economic malaise by the numbers
Naional unemploymen raes hover a 9.2 percen. Te rae or Arican Americans is
nearly wice ha and he Laino unemploymen rae is 11.3 percen. Unemploymen
in he consrucion indusry, which represens disproporionaely large numbers o Lainos, hovers a a crippling 13.6 percen.
According o a new sudy by he Pew Research Cener, he “wealh gap” beween whie,
black, and Laino households rose o record heighs during he recession. Beween 2005
and 2009 inaion-adjused median wealh ell by 66 percen among Laino households
and 53 percen among black households, compared wih jus a 16 percen drop among
whie households. Daa indicae ha ypical black households possessed jus $5,677 in
wealh (dened as asses minus deb) in 2009. Laino households didn’ are much be-
er wih only $6,325 in wealh. Te ypical whie household, however, had $113,149. o
make maters worse, 35 percen o black and 31 percen o Laino households had zero
or negaive ne wealh in 2009, compared o jus 15 percen o whie households.
A separae sudy by he Brookings Insiue conrms ha individuals wihou college
degrees living in meropolian areas were among hose mos aeced by he recession. No
surprisingly, blacks and Lainos also have he lowes rae o atainmen in higher educaion.
The recession decimatewealth for people
of color
Median net worth o
households, 2005 and 2009,
in 2009 dollars
2005 2009
Hispanics BlackWhites
$113,149
$6,325 $5,677
$134,992
$18,359$12,12
Source: Pew Research Center tabulations o Surve
o Income and Program Participation data.
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3 Center for American Progress | Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers
o be clear, his is no simply a “black and brown problem” ha can be swep under he
rug as we debae larger economic policy issues. Lainos (16 percen o he populaion)
and blacks (12 percen o he populaion) make up more han a quarer o our oal
populaion and represen he naion’s wo larges minoriy groups. High unemploymen
in hese communiies is criical or he enire U.S. economy. I ewer people are work-
ing, ewer people are spending, and economic recovery will be slow and anemic a bes.
Te economic crisis in his counry is largely a jobs crisis and hus we need a srong jobcreaor o drive economic recovery.
Enter the green economy
As job creaion goes, we know ha we ge hree imes more jobs by invesing in he
green economy han we would by invesing in ossil uels. Tese kinds o invesmens
include energy efciency reros o buildings, renewable energy deploymen, and
developmen o mass ransi inrasrucure, all o which require labor-inensive, U.S.-
based jobs. Mos imporanly, hese aciviies creae jobs in he mos criically hi secorso he economy, consrucion, and manuacuring.
Case in poin: CAP analysis indicaes ha reroting jus 40 percen o he naion’s
residenial and commercial building sock would require mobilizing a massive domesic
labor orce—more han hal a million (625,000) susained ull-ime jobs over a decade.
Furher, we know ha 89 percen o he maerials or reros are made in he Unied
Saes , meaning ha he sruggling manuacuring secor would also ge a boos.
On op o he jobs we could generae rom energy efciency, hese reros would also
save Americans $64 billion per year in energy coss. Ta’s $300 o $1,200 in savingsor individual amilies. Tis is especially imporan or low-income amilies in urban cen-
ers, who spend a greaer porion o heir monhly income (15 percen o 20 percen)
on energy coss. Freeing up 15 percen o 20 percen o a low-income amily’s budge is
likely o be spen on oher expendiures—such as groceries, school uiion, and ren—
hus urher simulaing he urban economy.
Invesmens in mass ransi would creae sill more jobs in he green economy. Te Apollo
Alliance has proposed ha a serious invesmen in our naion’s public ransporaion
inrasrucure could creae 3.7 million jobs, including 600,000 alone in he manuacur-
ing secor over he nex six years. Furhermore, sudies indicae ha invesmens in public
ransporaion creae 31 percen more jobs han invesmens in new highway consrucion.
Again, mos o hese jobs will be in he consrucion and manuacuring secor.
No only would invesmens in mass ransi creae jobs, bu hey would also increase
accessibiliy and mobiliy or he 30 percen o Americans who do no drive, many o
whom reside in urban neighborhoods. A sudy by he American Public ransporaion
Harvard business proessor
and widely cited economic
development expert Michae
E. Porter argues that Americ
urban centers are the “crucib
o our nation’s economic
health. He theorizes that job
creation in urban centers
with large poor and minority
populations is the “lynchpin”
or the success o virtually al
other social programs. Furth
he notes that low-income
urban populations are also
more likely to spend money
their local economy. Porter’s
research suggests that job c
ation via investments by the
government and leveraged
with private-sector capital
can not only play a critical ro
in alleviating the distressing
poverty o urban centers but
also have powerul spilloverefects to grow the regional
economy.
The importance ourban centers
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4 Center for American Progress | Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers
Associaion ound ha households ha use public ransporaion and live wih one less
car can save $9,000 on average every year.
wo benes o invesing in he green economy—job creaion in middle-skill occupa-
ions like manuacuring and consrucion, and cos savings or consumers—are a pow-
erully posiive combinaion or urban communiies hi hardes by he recession.
Growing good, green jobs in urban centers
Analysis o he green economy is no simply an exercise in couning jobs; i is also an
opporuniy o creae qualiy jobs in he communiies ha need hem he mos. Looking
closer a he Brookings Insiue numbers, we nd ha he ve urban ceners wih
he larges share o he green economy also have signican populaions o blacks and
Lainos, indicaing ha his segmen o he economy is growing alongside hese diverse
populaions. Addiionally, on average, hese jobs oer a higher median wage han he
region’s average, and many (45 percen) are lled by workers wihou a college degree.
Brookings also repors ha 41 percen o he naion’s green jobs oer medium- o long-
erm career building and raining opporuniies, and 26 percen o green jobs are in he
manuacuring secor, compared o 9 percen in he radiional economy.
Te socioeconomic characerisics o green jobs –well paid, upwardly mobile, and
available o diverse communiies wih varying levels o skills and educaion—have been
long-held core values or advocaes o he green economy. Organizaions such as Green
or All , he Apollo Alliance , he Blue Green Alliance , he Cener on Wisconsin Sraegy ,
and he Cener or American Progress have led he naional discussion ha job creaionis no jus a numbers game. Economic developmen and job creaion mus also reec
qualiy and accessibiliy in order o address longsanding economic dispariy and help
build a srong middle class, paricularly in urban communiies o color.
Top five green job regions
Unemployment
rateRegion
Total green
jobs (2010)
New York 8.5% 152,034
L.A. 11.9% 89,592
Chicago 9.8% 79,338
Philadelphia 8.9% 54,325
D.C. 10.4% 70,828
Latino
population
27.0%
46.5%
26.0%
12.3%
9.1%
African American
population
26.6%
11.2%
32.8%
43.4%
50.7%
Median wage
(overall)
$38,625
$36,687
$38,625
$36,646
$58,906
Median wage
(green jobs)
$45,578
$40,910
$42,816
$43,913
$51,651
“Green collar”*
share of jobs
74.4%
70.9%
70.1%
70.3%
62.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau o Labor Statistics, Brookings Institute.
*The Brookings Institute denes “green collar” jobs as paying a mid-l evel wage and including the ollowing occupational categories: production,
transportation, installation, construction, ofce administration and support, protective services, and social ser vices.
In 2007 New York Times best
selling author and CAP Senio
Fellow Van Jones released th
“The Green Collar Economy.”In it he describes an econom
engine that could address th
growing economic, environ-
mental, and social disparitie
acing the “have nots” o
society, while at the same tim
being robust enough to driv
new industries, investments
and technologies that could
propel the United States to a
more competitive and susta
able economy. The green co
economy would be centered
on cleaner, healthier, and sa
alternatives to ossil uels an
other polluting products and
industries. It has the potenti
to create jobs that were “am
supporting … in environme
tally riendly elds” and wou
encompass a wide variety o
skill and education levels. It
could, as Jones described, “li
all economic boats.”
The Green CollarEconomy
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Let the green economy grow
In order o urn our sruggling economy around, consumers need o spend money on
goods and services. o do his, Americans need jobs—all sors o jobs.
Despie he bes eors by conservaive naysayers and deracors, and he wors eco-
nomic downurn since he Grea Depression, green jobs coninue o grow. Tis is an American success sory, one ha should be celebraed, culivaed, and proeced.
In he ace o saggering and record-breaking economic dispariy, he green economy oers
real opporuniy o communiies ha desperaely need jobs. Furher, hese jobs are well
paid, wih pahs or upward mobiliy—even wihou an advanced degree. Tis is paricu-
larly crucial or black and Laino amilies, who have radiionally relied on jobs in consruc-
ion and manuacuring o gain pahways o wealh building and he middle class.
Building a srong middle class is no jus an exercise in social good; i is absoluely nec-
essary or rebuilding our economy. We have clear challenges ahead bu also a promisingpah orward. Te green economy can help us ge here.
Jorge Madrid is a Research Associate and Brennan Alvarez is an intern at the Center
for American Progress.