{"id":12124,"date":"2014-01-30T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/?p=12124"},"modified":"2014-04-21T17:40:52","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T21:40:52","slug":"national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Solar Foundation (TSF)<\/a>, an independent nonprofit solar research and education organization, has released its fourth annual National Solar Jobs Census, which found the U.S. solar industry employed 142,698 Americans in 2013. That figure includes the addition of 23,682 solar jobs over the previous year, representing 19.9 percent growth in employment since September 2012. Solar employment grew 10 times faster than the national average employment growth rate of 1.9 percent in the same period. Read the full report.<\/a> State-by-state jobs numbers, including a more detailed analysis of the California, Arizona, and Minnesota solar markets, will be released in February. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe solar industry\u2019s job-creating power is clear,\u201d says Andrea Luecke, executive director and president of The Solar Foundation. \u201cThe industry has grown an astounding 53 percent in the last four years alone, adding nearly 50,000 jobs. Our census findings show that for the fourth year running, solar jobs remain well-paid and attract highly skilled workers. That growth is putting people back to work and helping local economies.\u201d <\/p>\n

Solar employers are also optimistic about 2014, expecting to add another 22,000 jobs over the coming year. By comparison, over the same time period, the fossil-fuel electric generation sector shrank by more than 8,500 jobs (a decline of 8.7 percent) and jobs in coal mining grew by just 0.25 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics current Employment Survey (not seasonally adjusted), September 2012 – November 2013. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe solar industry is a proven job-creator,\u201d says Bill Ritter, former governor of Colorado and director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University<\/a>. \u201cIn Colorado and across the country, we have seen that when the right policies are in place to create long-term market certainty, this industry continues to add jobs to our economy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSolarCity has added more than 2,000 jobs since the beginning of 2013; every single one in the United States. When you install a solar panel you create a local job that can\u2019t be outsourced,\u201d says Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity<\/a>. \u201cMore than 90 percent of Americans believe we should be using more solar, and fewer than 1 percent have it today. We\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solar companies are also reporting that cost savings are driving their clients\u2019 decision making, as 51.4 percent of customers report going solar to save money and another 22.9 percent because costs are now competitive with utility rates. <\/p>\n

\u201cTens of thousands of new living-wage jobs have been created over the past year thanks to plunging solar technology costs, increasing consumer demand, and supportive government policies,\u201d says Amit Ronen, director of The George Washington University Solar Institute<\/a>. \u201cAs the nation\u2019s fastest growing energy source, we expect the solar industry will continue to generate robust job growth for at least the next decade.\u201d <\/p>\n

The National Solar Jobs Census 2013 was conducted by TSF and BW Research Partnership<\/a> with support from the GW Solar Institute.
\nThe report, derived from data collected from more than 2,081 solar firms, measured employment growth in the solar industry between September 2012 and November 2013. The margin of error of this data set is +\/- 1.3 percent, significantly lower than any similar national industry study. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe study shows both aggressive hiring and clear optimism among US solar companies,\u201d says Philip Jordan, vice president at BW Research Partnership. \u201cOf particular interest was the continued high wages among solar installers, who earned an average of between $20 and $23.63 per hour. We also found higher than average employment of veterans in the solar industry, a sign that their high-tech skills are valued in this sector.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSunPower is proud to be a global leader in solar power technology and energy services, creating thousands of American jobs and injecting billions into the U.S. economy,\u201d says SunPower CEO Tom Werner. \u201cWe employ about 1,000 people at facilities in 10 states and are actively hiring hundreds more. Our network of approximately 400 dealers employs more than 6,000 across the U.S., and two of our major solar power plants last year created 1,300 jobs at peak construction. Solar is a competitive, reliable resource, and an economic success story for America.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Solar Foundation (TSF), an independent nonprofit solar research and education organization, has released its fourth annual National Solar Jobs Census, which found the U.S. solar industry employed 142,698 Americans in 2013. That figure includes the addition of 23,682 solar jobs over the previous year, representing 19.9 percent growth in employment since September 2012. Solar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[201],"tags":[233,2387,390,780,67],"ppma_author":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"retrofit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/RetrofitMagazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/logo.jpg?fit=200%2C121&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"121\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Retrofit Magazine Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@retrofitmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@retrofitmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Retrofit Magazine Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Retrofit Magazine Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c3da0a24702724c901eeb71938c3647\"},\"headline\":\"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"economy\",\"jobs\",\"photovoltaics\",\"PV\",\"solar\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Industry News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\",\"name\":\"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/\",\"name\":\"retrofit\",\"description\":\"Improving Yesterday For Today\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"retrofit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"retrofit\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/RetrofitMagazine\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/retrofitmag\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4623440\/profile\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/RetrofitMag\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c3da0a24702724c901eeb71938c3647\",\"name\":\"Retrofit Magazine Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/6a96186d1742b95ac2226f46decac09c\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png\",\"caption\":\"Retrofit Magazine Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/author\/retrofit-magazine-editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit","description":"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit","og_description":"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.","og_url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/","og_site_name":"retrofit","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/RetrofitMagazine","article_published_time":"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":121,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/logo.jpg?fit=200%2C121&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Retrofit Magazine Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@retrofitmag","twitter_site":"@retrofitmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Retrofit Magazine Editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/"},"author":{"name":"Retrofit Magazine Editor","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c3da0a24702724c901eeb71938c3647"},"headline":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate","datePublished":"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/"},"wordCount":692,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["economy","jobs","photovoltaics","PV","solar"],"articleSection":["Industry News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2014","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/","url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/","name":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate - retrofit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-30T13:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-21T21:40:52+00:00","description":"National Solar Jobs Census finds solar employment has grown 19.9 percent since September 2012.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/national-solar-jobs-census-finds-solar-employment-grew-10-times-faster-national-average-employment-growth-rate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2013 Solar Employment Grew 10 Times Faster than the National Average Employment Growth Rate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/","name":"retrofit","description":"Improving Yesterday For Today","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#organization","name":"retrofit","url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"retrofit"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/facebook.com\/RetrofitMagazine","https:\/\/x.com\/retrofitmag","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4623440\/profile","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/RetrofitMag"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c3da0a24702724c901eeb71938c3647","name":"Retrofit Magazine Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/6a96186d1742b95ac2226f46decac09c","url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png","caption":"Retrofit Magazine Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/author\/retrofit-magazine-editor\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"authors":[{"term_id":48795,"user_id":95,"is_guest":0,"slug":"retrofit-magazine-editor","display_name":"Retrofit Magazine Editor","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png","url2x":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/retrofit_r_6abbd8_256x256.png"},"first_name":"Retrofit Magazine","last_name":"Editor","user_url":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12124"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=12124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}