E2’s Clean Jobs America 2021 Report Released

E2’s 6th annual Clean Jobs America report has been released for 2021 today, showing that the clean energy sector employs 3 million Americans across every state and nearly every county. But according to the analysis, the sector’s 9% overall drop in jobs over the previous year is the first recorded drop since E2 began tracking clean energy jobs in 2015 and lowest total since then. Despite suffering about 600,000 job losses from March to May, by the end of the year about 300,000 jobs had been permanently recovered and the sector was adding jobs back faster than the overall U.S. economy.

According to the analysis, energy efficiency jobs saw the biggest drop, declining about 11% over the year as workers were prevented from entering homes and offices because of the pandemic lockdowns. Still, energy efficiency accounts for an even greater share of U.S. construction jobs, employing about one in every five construction workers nationwide. Other clean energy sectors also saw significant declines in 2020, including renewable energy (6% ), grid and storage (7%), and clean fuels (7%).

Several clean energy sectors did see job gains in 2020, including wind energy which added about 2,000 jobs. But the brightest spot was in manufacturing of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, where about 12,200 jobs were added as an increasing number of automakers announced shifts to producing 100% zero-emission vehicles.

Despite the setbacks, clean energy jobs rebounded quicker than overall nationwide workforce, according to the analysis. Clean energy jobs grew about 11% since May, compared to less than 9% growth in the national workforce during the same period.

You can view the report here.