Last year, the solar industry employed more Americans (373,807) than coal (160,119), while wind power topped 100,000 jobs.
However, by reporting that the solar industry employs lots of Americans, more than twice as many as the number of coal miners and utility workers at electric power plants using coal, is only telling a small part of of the story reports Mark Perry. 1
To start, despite a huge workforce of almost 400,000 solar workers, that sector produced an insignificant share, less than 1 percent of the electric power generated in the United States last year.