Green Jobs and the Economy

Last year, the State Legislature passed, but did not fund, the Climate Action and Green Jobs law.

Investing in green jobs is an important part of a strategy to strengthen our economy. Coming out of the recession, we will need a trained and qualified workforce earning living wages and participating fully in the economy. Training those workers for growing targeted industries such as renewable energy is smart for the economy and good for the environment.

The green jobs initiative would include the creation of pilot green industry skills panels to ensure that trained workers will be able to meet the needs of local industry. It also calls for an increase in the opportunity grants program for green industry training to provide tuition assistance and support services for lower income students as well as funding for curriculum development in this sector.

Many of these initiatives would not be new programs. Community colleges across the state already have existing wind, solar, and biofuel programs that could be scaled up. Federal money is expected to help states embrace the green energy movement. State investments in this area could be used to leverage money from the federal stimulus package.

The need for investments in community colleges and training is especially great during a recession. The graph below shows what happened to enrollment in workforce training programs during the last recession - it rose sharply along with the state unemployment rate.

Funding the green jobs bill would not be enough to offset the deep cuts in community colleges in the Governor's 2009-11 budget proposal. These cuts would place limits on enrollment, raise tuition, reduce classes and services and diminish the ability of lower income workers to prepare for and find jobs in the new economy.