Green Jobs

WASHINGTON -- Clean-energy jobs make up a small part of U.S. employment, but a new federal report shows they are growing much faster than other work, even healthcare. The nation had about 3.4 million green energy jobs in 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday in its second annual and final look at this emerging category of employment. (More on why it's the last report later.) In all, so-called green jobs accounted for just 2.6% of all employment that year, but a comparison with 2010 data shows that these jobs grew at four times the rate of all the others combined.

WASHINGTON -- First-time jobless claims rose last week for the second straight week, but few analysts were worried that it signaled a shift in the recently improved labor market. The Labor Department said Thursday that 357,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended last Saturday. That was up from a revised 341,000 in the prior week and 334,000 in the one before that. Analysts were expecting the number of jobless claims to tick up after falling in recent weeks, but not by so much.

While many industries in California were buckling under the weight of the recession, so-called green businesses were struggling too -- just not as much, according to a new report . From January 2009 through January 2010, the overall state economy lost 7% of its jobs, according to nonprofit research group Next 10's Many Shades of Green report. During the same period, the core green economy -- composed of businesses involved in renewable energy, clean-fuel cars, water conservation, emissions trading and more -- suffered a 3% job loss.

WASHINGTON -- Clean-energy jobs make up a small part of U.S. employment, but a new federal report shows they are growing much faster than other work, even healthcare. The nation had about 3.4 million green energy jobs in 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday in its second annual and final look at this emerging category of employment. (More on why it's the last report later.) In all, so-called green jobs accounted for just 2.6% of all employment that year, but a comparison with 2010 data shows that these jobs grew at four times the rate of all the others combined.

California's economy may not be as “green” as people think. In the federal government's first report breaking down so-called green energy employment in the country, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday that California had 338,400 jobs associated with the production of green goods and services in 2010. That's more than any other state, but as a percentage of California's overall employment, green jobs made up 2.3% of its total private and public payrolls. In the country as a whole, the BLS says, there were 3.1 million green jobs in 2010, which accounted for 2.4% for all employment.

Recycling centers across California are closing, and scores of troubled youths are being tossed from "green" jobs onto unemployment rolls in the wake of Sacramento's raid on bottle deposit funds. California's recycling treasury, filled by consumers' nickel and dime deposits on drink containers, had hummed along successfully for two decades until state officials left it nearly bankrupt after taking $451 million out to help balance the budget. The unredeemed deposits that subsidized recycling facilities and such projects as a local conservation corps are virtually gone, leaving the programs in the lurch.

What was once the bustling Evergreen Pulp mill is today a forlorn factory of smokestacks and tan buildings clustered quietly beside the still, gray waters of the Arcata harbor near Eureka, Calif. Entrepreneur Bob Simpson bought the closed facility in February with the hopes of reopening it as a environmentally friendly toilet paper plant. He planned to spend $400 million rehabbing the factory and rehiring 215 workers who lost their jobs when the old pulp mill shut down in October 2008.

A veterans outreach organization in Long Beach was named one of 17 groups nationwide Wednesday to receive a share of $7.5 million to train veterans for green jobs. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the agency grants to provide about 3,000 veterans with training and employment in green jobs. In California, the Long Beach site will get $500,000 to train more than 100 veterans in Los Angeles County and find work for them.

Jobs at clean-tech or alternative-energy companies have flourished in California, with nearly a quarter of them based in Los Angeles, a new study has found. Employers offering jobs in fields such as solar-power generation, electric-vehicle development and environmental consultation added 5,000 jobs in 2008, the latest data available. In all, about 174,000 Californians were working in eco-friendly fields by early 2009, compared with just 111,000 in 1995, said nonprofit research group Next 10. The study, which culled data from government and private reports, was released late Tuesday.

Although the recession has emptied shopping malls and filled jobless centers, the call has only gotten louder for renewable energy, environmentally gentle products and eco-friendly practices -- and for people to make all of that happen. President Obama has said that he hopes to create 5 million green jobs within a decade. The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that the "green economy" could account for as much as 10% of job growth over the next 30 years. The job description casts a wide net. The green ranks can include autoworkers making hybrid cars, building consultants, home energy auditors, environmental studies professors, wind turbine engineers, lawyers for biofuel companies and many more.

The fact that climate change got some attention at Wednesday's presidential press conference could be viewed as progress by environmentalists, after they watched the issue go virtually ignored during the just-concluded campaign. President Obama made many of the right sounds for activists on the issue. In response to a question from the New York Times's Mark Landler, Obama said America must “make sure that this is not something we're passing on to future generations, that's going to be very expensive and very painful to deal with.” But the president also signaled that reducing carbon emissions comes nowhere near the top of his agenda, at least as he looks forward to the start of his second term.

When it comes to conserving energy, California is one of the most efficient states. But it's no longer the best. That honor goes to Massachusetts for the second year in a row, according to the sixth annual report on the subject from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. But the Golden State has been a leader for decades, according to the group, which goes by the less-unwieldy ACEEE. Utilities in the state offer energy efficiency programs for customers and are expected to save nearly 7,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity between 2010 and 2012.

It is in the nature of politicians to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, especially if they're the kind of mistakes favored by a lawmaker's key financial backers. Yet the award of an important rail-car contract Monday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to a company that submitted the best bid for the job -- but isn't the most politically connected -- is a rare and wonderful demonstration that L.A. leaders have the capacity to learn. Rail cars are a touchy subject in L.A., at least to anyone who remembers what happened in 2009.

A simmering trade dispute is highlighting a debate about the kinds of jobs America can sustain in a greening economy. The Obama administration's recent decision to slap import tariffs on Chinese solar cells was hailed by some domestic solar manufacturers as a victory for job creation, leveling the field while also sending a powerful message to Beijing about monopolistic behavior in crucial industries. But a close look at the U.S. solar industry suggests that the tariffs may actually be a job killer because the vast majority of positions in the sector aren't on the assembly line.

California's economy may not be as “green” as people think. In the federal government's first report breaking down so-called green energy employment in the country, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday that California had 338,400 jobs associated with the production of green goods and services in 2010. That's more than any other state, but as a percentage of California's overall employment, green jobs made up 2.3% of its total private and public payrolls. In the country as a whole, the BLS says, there were 3.1 million green jobs in 2010, which accounted for 2.4% for all employment.

While many industries in California were buckling under the weight of the recession, so-called green businesses were struggling too -- just not as much, according to a new report . From January 2009 through January 2010, the overall state economy lost 7% of its jobs, according to nonprofit research group Next 10's Many Shades of Green report. During the same period, the core green economy -- composed of businesses involved in renewable energy, clean-fuel cars, water conservation, emissions trading and more -- suffered a 3% job loss.

Green businesses are blooming in California, creating jobs at a faster pace than the broader economy, a new study has found. The report from Next 10 , a nonprofit research group in Palo Alto, explores California's "core green economy," including areas such as research and advocacy, finance and investment, energy efficiency, recycling and building. The study, to be released today, determined that the number of green companies surged 45% from 1995 to 2008, and total jobs in areas such as energy efficiency, renewable fuels and clean tech grew 36%. During the same period general employment in the state expanded just 13%. From January 2007 to January 2008 green jobs increased 5% while total jobs declined 1%. The number of green jobs in the Golden State jumped to 159,000 in 2008 from 117,000 in 1995, an average annual growth rate of 2.4%, according to what Next 10 called "the most comprehensive accounting" of the sector ever conducted.

The State of the Union address is a political exercise in the best of times. But when a president is running for reelection and Congress is dominated by his most bitter opponents, there's even less pretense than usual. The State of the Union address that President Obama delivered Tuesday was, in a sense, the first formal speech of his reelection campaign. It was his chance to wedge himself into the noise of the Republican primary campaign for 66 minutes of uninterrupted television time, and he took advantage of it. It was a blue-collar speech, aimed largely at the swing voters Obama most needs to woo - middle- and low-income workers still struggling in the recession's wake.

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the Northern California headquarters of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection this week despite receiving $535 million in federal stimulus loan guarantees. The FBI and Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General confirmed that their agents were involved in the raid Thursday at Solyndra's offices in Fremont but declined to discuss what they were investigating. FBI spokesman Peter D. Lee said documents related to the search had been sealed.