14 DAY TRIAL // This past January 27, The Solar Foundation released a new report documenting how employment rates in the solar industry in the United States evolved throughout the course of one year. The period targeted by this report is the one between September 2012 and September 2013.
The Solar Foundation says that, within this time frame, the country's solar industry employed an additional 23,682 people. Thus, as of September 2013, the total employment for said industry was one of 142,698, Eco Watch explains.
All things considered, it is very likely that, since said date until now, more people in the United States have been employed by the solar industry.
According to the specialists who worked on the report, this represents an increase of about 20% when compared to the number of solar jobs documented in the United States in September 2012.
Interestingly enough, it would appear that, over the past five years, the solar industry in this part of the world added some 50,000 jobs. Otherwise put, the growth registered between September 2012 and September 2013 was not just a fluke.
“The solar industry’s job-creating power is clear,” Andrea Luecke, the current executive director and president of The Solar Foundation, commented on these findings.
Furthermore, “Our census findings show that for the fourth year running, solar jobs remain well-paid and attract highly-skilled workers.”
What's interesting is that, as shown in The Solar Foundation's report, i.e. National Solar Jobs, the national average for employment rate growth within said timespan was one of 1.9%.
This means that, all things considered, employment rates in the solar industry grew about 10 times faster than the overall United States employment during the period taken into consideration by The Solar Foundation's study.
“We’ve barely begun this transformation, but as it advances, the American solar industry has the potential to be one of the greatest job creators this country has ever seen,” Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity said in a statement.