Efficiency First

Workforce Implications of the Waxman-Markey Energy Bill Economists project a net gain of 1.7 million jobs for American workers

In June, the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst published the results of a joint study analyzing the potential impact of current and proposed energy legislation on the U.S. unemployment rate. The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy: How the economic stimulus program and new legislation can boost U.S. economic growth and employment offers compelling reasons for getting the Waxman-Markey Bill signed into law.

After modeling the combined annual spending initiated by provisions incorporated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the American Clean Energy and Security Act now pending on Capitol Hill, the report’s authors concluded that:

… a combination of clean-energy investments – including building retrofits, public transportation, and constructing a smart grid, as well as promoting renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass power – will generate roughly three times more jobs than an equivalent amount of money spent on conventional fossil fuels. So if the United States proceeds with combined public- and private-sector investments in clean energy amounting to $150 billion a year, this would generate about 2.5 million jobs. In contrast, spending the same $150 billion within the fossil fuel sector generates about 800,000 jobs. Therefore, the net impact – jobs gained through expanding clean-energy investments by $150 billion minus jobs lost through reducing spending on fossil fuels by the same amount – would be a net gain of 1.7 million new jobs within the U.S. economy.

That level of job creation, the report states, would be enough “to reduce the unemployment rate in today’s economy by about one full percentage point, to 8.4 percent from current 9.4-percent levels – even after taking into full account the inevitable job losses in conventional fossil fuel sectors of the U.S. economy as they contract.” Another key point the authors emphasize is that while government funding is a part of the estimated $150 billion in annual spending, the figure is “notably dominated by private-sector investments.”

Read the executive summary: www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/clean_energy.html

Download the full report here: www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/pdf/peri_report.pdf

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