There is great discourse on defining what qualifies as a green.  Is nuclear energy a green industry? Is an accountant for a wind farm a green job? The Department of Labor recently tagged over 100 occupations in the O*NET database as being green occupations.  http://online.onetcenter.org/find/green.  This searchable tool allows you to browse by the 12 identified green economy sectors: Agriculture and Forestry; Energy and Carbon Capture and Storage; Energy Efficiency; Energy Storage; Environment Protection; Government and Regulatory Administration; Green Construction; Manufacturing; Recycling and Waste Reduction; Renewable Energy Generation; Research, Design and Consulting Services and Transportation.   

The tool breaks green occupations into three categories (definitions and data below are credited to and are directly from the O*NET website http://www.onetcenter.org/green.html?p=2):

Green increased demand occupations: The impact of green economy activities and technologies is an increase in the employment demand for an existing occupation. However, this impact does not entail significant changes in the work and worker requirements of the occupation. The work context may change, but the tasks themselves do not. 64 occupations meet this definition.

Green enhanced skills occupations: The impact of green economy activities and technologies results in a significant change to the work and worker requirements of an existing O*NET-SOC occupation. This impact may or may not result in an increase in employment demand for the occupation. The essential purposes of the occupation remain the same, but tasks, skills, knowledge, and external elements, such as credentials, have been altered.  60 occupations meet this definition.

Green new and emerging occupations: The impact of green economy activities and technologies is sufficient to create the need for unique work and worker requirements, which results in the generation of a new occupation relative to the O*NET taxonomy. This new occupation could be entirely novel or “born” from an existing occupation. 45 occupations qualify for this definition, with another 46 occupations identified as candidates to qualify for this definition.

The O*NET green center has a wealth of “green” resources.

Tags: green jobs, O*NET

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