Study finds 46,000 'green jobs' in Indiana

“Green jobs” account for 1.7 percent of Indiana’s, according to a new study by the Indiana Department of Labor.

The first of its kind, the report surveyed  Indiana’s jobs that can directly contribute to a company’s green-related products or services.

The 18-month survey, conducted in conjunction with IU’s Indiana Business Research Center and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, found that there are 46,879 jobs that can be considered green in Indiana.

It also discovered that 17,437 jobs support green economic activity indirectly.

Green jobs currently make up 16 percent of in-demand jobs in Indiana, according to the survey.

The number of jobs that were both growing in demand and paying well only amounted to a total of 42, however.

In comparison, about 3.1 percent of Michigan’s jobs are green.

Michigan reported 25,780 green jobs in transportation equipment manufacturing in 2009, while Indiana posted only 1,700.

The survey, called “Indiana Green Jobs: Employment Prospects in the Green Economy,” served as a companion to a previous survey called “Driving Change: Greening the Automotive Workforce.”

Both surveys focused on providing job information to displaced automotive workers and workers from other industries affected by the recession.

“Many workers who lost jobs still need work, and many will never be hired back into the auto industry,” Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the IBRC, said in a press release.

“One of the goals of the Driving Change research is to help displaced workers find new career options,” Slaper added.

Both reports found that most green jobs do not require much special training, with the exception of jobs in engineering.

Most workers wishing to switch to green industries simply require on-the-job training, both reports found.

Construction, services and trade were the industries that the studies found to have the highest concentration of green jobs, accounting for more than 60 percent of Indiana’s total number of green jobs.

Manufacturing accounted for only 14 percent of the total.

The survey also found that few engineering jobs were directly related to the green economy in Indiana.

“In contrast to Michigan, where over 40 percent of this core green area was attributed to engineering occupations, relatively few engineers inhabit Indiana’s clean transportation and fuels core area,” Slaper said.
 
He also said as demand and production of fuel-efficient and alternative fuels grow, however, it is likely Indiana will see an increase in those fields.

The survey sent questionnaires to more than 13,000 firms in Indiana, more than half of which responded, Slaper said.

Slaper said that the survey was necessary because existing systems and databases for measuring job growth are not designed for measuring the green economy.

— Zach Ammerman