Solar jobs booming

The solar industry was a leader in job creation across the country in 2016, with four states SELC works in listed among the nation’s top 20, according to a newly published report from The Solar Foundation. The National Solar Jobs Census shows that last year one in every 50 new jobs in America was in the solar industry. The 2016 jump in solar jobs accounted for more than 50,000 new jobs in 44 states in the solar industry alone.

Job growth in the solar industry has been rising steadily, at a rate of at least 20 percent a year, since the census was first released in 2010. Since then the solar workforce has nearly tripled and employers are expected to add more jobs over the next 12 months, increasing the solar jobs by 10 percent.

In 2016 the five states with the most solar jobs were in California, Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada and Florida. From the six-state region SELC works in, the four included in the top 20 for solar job creation were Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. SELC continues to work at the state and local level across the region to ensure the many benefits of solar, from job creation to cleaner energy, are available to all.