A major argument people use to promote renewable electricity mandates is that the mandates can create jobs. Reports from 10 years ago reveal that trying to create jobs through renewable subsidies had proven to be a failure. In Spain, for example, it was estimated that 2.2 jobs were lost as an opportunity for creating one job in the renewable sector. In Germany, per worker subsidies in the solar industry were as high as $240,000.1
In Italy, the same amount of capital that created one job in the green sector, would create almost 5 jobs in the general economy.. Researchers also found that the vast majority of green jobs created were temporary. Most of the jobs, at least 60%, were for installers or other temporary work that would disappear once a photovoltaic panel, or a wind tower is operative.
Most 'clean energy' jobs are temporary and have little to do with energy production
The effect of government subsidy in Denmark has been to shift employment from more productive employment in other sectors to less productive employment in the wind industry. As a consequence, Danish GDP is approximately 1.8 billion DKK ($270 million) lower than it would have been if the wind sector work force was employed elsewhere.
United Kingdom: For every job created in the UK in renewable energy, 3.7 jobs were lost. 2
The United States has not learned from this experience of others. During the 2020 election campaign, Joe Biden asserted that more than 3 million Americans are already 'employed in the clean energy economy.' He then boasted that 'if executed strategically, our response to climate change can create more than 10 million well paying jobs in the United States that will grow a stronger, more inclusive middle class, and not just in cities along the coasts.' 3
That would make Joe twice as boastful as his former boss, who promised the 2009, $787 billion stimulus package would create 'over five million' green jobs. Four years later, the Brookings Institution reported that, 'of the nearly 2.7 million 'green jobs' the Obama -Biden Administration identifies, most were bus drivers, sewage workers and other types of work that do not fit the 'green jobs of the future' description.4
Most 'clean energy' jobs are temporary and have little to do with energy production. The majority of jobs in 'clean energy' are temporary construction jobs that should not be counted as part of energy jobs because their overall impact on the economy is short-lived. Less than 1% of jobs in the clean energy sector are in utilities and about 90% of jobs are in construction, manufacturing, trade and professional services. 5
Every electric vehicle job will likely come at the expense of a gasoline engine vehicle job
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted all industry lobbyists as holding 'green' jobs. The septic tank and portable toilet servicing industry had 33 times more 'green' jobs than solar electric utilities. 6
David Kreutzer pointed out that steel workers had the most 'green' industrial jobs. Why? Most US steel is recycled scrap, and some steel gets used in making wind turbines. The next largest groups were bus drivers, waste collectors, and used merchandise store employees, followed finally by engineering and architectural services. The much hated nuclear industry accounted for over 80% of the 44,000 'green' utility jobs. There were five times as many 'green' jobs in social advocacy (environmentalist group lobbyists) as in renewable electric power. 7
Another Biden plan is to replace the 650,000 government vehicle fleet with electric cars and install 500,000 EV charging stations. But here's the kicker. Every electric vehicle job will likely come at the expense of a gasoline engine vehicle job, and every EV charging station will diminish jobs in pipeline, refining, gasoline retail, gasoline delivery, and other sectors. Industry analysts and the United Auto Workers Union agree that EV manufacturing will likely men fewer automotive jobs. 3
In 2019, while losing over a fifth of its US market share of sales over a 3 year period, General Motors admitted it already employed more non-union workers in China than union workers in the US. The harsh reality is that there are 10 times more electric battery manufacturing facilities in Asia than in all of North America. Perhaps Biden is talking about the number of Chinese 'green' jobs.
Despite the push for green energy and electric vehicles, the German Trade Union Association reports that the number of 'green' jobs in the German renewables sector had fallen from 300,000 in 2011 to just 150,000 in 2018. Many of these lost jobs were due to the collapse of Germany's solar power industry, as companies were forced out of business by Chinese manufacturers that undercut German prices. sup>3
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Final Words
Looks like the quote from George Santayana applies here: “Those who fail to learn from the past, are doomed to repeat it.”
References
“The status of renewable electricity in the states,” Institute of Energy Research, February 9, 2011
Kenneth P. Green, “The myth of green energy jobs: the European experience,” aei.org, February 1, 2011
Duggan Flanakin, “The myth (and phony math) of 'green' jobs,” wattsupwiththat.com, February 28, 2021
Mark Muro et al., “Sizing the clean economy: a national and regional green job assessment,” brookings.edu, July 13, 2011
Martha Njolomole, “Energy job report shows that 'clean energy' is all about creating unproductive jobs,” Center of the American Experiment, April 3, 2020
David Kreutzer, “Green jobs go 0-for-4,” dailysignal.com, November 1, 2012
David Kreutzer, “The countless shades of green jobs,” heritage.org, March 30, 2012 – get more from here
Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.
A major argument people use to promote renewable electricity mandates is that the mandates can create jobs. Reports from 10 years ago reveal that trying to create jobs through renewable subsidies had proven to be a failure. In Spain, for example, it was estimated that 2.2 jobs were lost as an opportunity for creating one job in the renewable sector. In Germany, per worker subsidies in the solar industry were as high as $240,000.1
In Italy, the same amount of capital that created one job in the green sector, would create almost 5 jobs in the general economy.. Researchers also found that the vast majority of green jobs created were temporary. Most of the jobs, at least 60%, were for installers or other temporary work that would disappear once a photovoltaic panel, or a wind tower is operative. 
