The U.S. clean energy sector experienced significant growth in 2023, with jobs in the industry increasing at more than double the rate of the country’s overall employment, according to a report released by the Energy Department on Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy and Employment Report highlighted that clean energy employment, including positions in wind, solar, nuclear, and battery storage, expanded by 142,000 jobs or 4.2 percent last year. This growth rate surpassed the national job growth of 2 percent in 2023 and reflected an increase from the previous year’s 3.9 percent rise.
Overall, the energy sector added 250,000 jobs in 2023, with clean energy accounting for 56 percent of these new positions. For the first time, unionization rates in the clean energy industry surpassed those in the broader energy sector, reaching 12.4 percent compared to the overall energy business’s 11 percent. This trend was largely driven by growth in construction and utility sectors, boosted by recent legislation such as the bipartisan CHIPS Act and President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Veterans accounted for 9 percent of the U.S. energy workforce, greater than their representation in the overall U.S. workforce, at 5 percent.
The energy workforce is younger than average, with 29 percent of workers below the age of 30.
Latino and Hispanic workers held nearly one-third of the new energy jobs created in 2023, growing by 79,000 workers.
Construction employment in energy grew 4.5 percent.
Texas (969,801), California (932,273), Michigan (401,720), Florida (351,934), and Ohio (333,110) have the greatest number of energy jobs in the United States.
California (545,207), Texas (261,934), New York (177,202), Florida (172,115), and Illinois (130,473) have the greatest number of clean energy jobs.
Alabama (9.6 percent), Utah (7.8 percent), and North Carolina (6.9 percent) had the fastest rate of energy job growth from 2022 to 2023.
Betony Jones, head of energy jobs at the Energy Department, emphasized that the legislative support and private-sector investments are expected to sustain job growth in clean energy construction for decades. This stability allows workers in the industry to build long-term careers, even as they move between projects.
The solar industry saw a 5.3 percent increase in jobs, with more than 18,000 new positions added. However, the solar installation sector in California faced challenges, losing over 17,000 jobs due to high interest rates and changes to net metering policies that reduced credits for excess power generated by rooftop panels.
In contrast, the fossil fuel industry experienced mixed results. While the natural gas workforce grew by 13.3 percent (over 77,000 jobs), employment in the petroleum sector declined by more than 44,000 jobs (6 percent), and coal jobs decreased by nearly 8,500 (5.3 percent) as the energy mix continued to shift towards gas, wind, and solar.
The report also highlighted demographic trends in the energy workforce, noting that it remains predominantly male, with men making up 73 percent of workers in 2023, a figure unchanged from the previous year. Despite women accounting for half of the new energy jobs in 2022, they represented only 17 percent of the positions added in 2023.
White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi commented on the report, asserting that the administration’s energy and climate policies are driving job creation. He warned that Republican efforts to repeal programs under the Inflation Reduction Act could jeopardize not only clean energy jobs but also approximately 28,000 manufacturing jobs linked to renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies like heat pumps.