engineer stand holding yellow safety helmet front solar photovoltaics and wind turbines generating electricity power station background
The Department of Energy’s 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) finds that the traditional energy and energy efficiency sectors today employ approximately 6.4 million Americans. These sectors increased in 2016 by just under 5 percent, adding over 300,000 net new jobs, roughly 14% of all those created in the country.
Additional top-level findings of the extensive report are listed below, and given the wide levels of variations across different states, there is great value in additional review of the reports’ detailed state-by-state data and findings.
2 million Americans are employed, in whole or in part, in the design, installation, and manufacture of Energy Efficiency products and services, adding 133,000 jobs in 2016.
Investments in energy transmission, distribution and storage generated 65,000 new jobs
Solar industry employment increased by over 73,000 jobs (25%)
Wind industry employment grew by 25,000 jobs, for a total of 102,000 at the end of 2016
Across the United States, utilities employ 807,262, with nearly three-quarters working in energy generation, transmission, or distribution:
Peter Manos is a utility industry analyst and former Senior Editor at T&D World. He started his career as an engineer at Con Edison in New York. For more than 30 years, Peter has been writing about the value of technologies for utilities and the communities they serve. Based in Atlanta, Peter is currently Content Writer at SEDC.
