According to a new report from a coalition of energy organizations, women and black workers are underrepresented in the clean energy workfor...
Clean energy jobs, which range from building electric cars to making buildings more energy efficient, are transforming the nation's economy, but they are filled primarily with white men, with Latino workers mostly stuck in entry-level positions. And women and black workers are underrepresented. The industry overall, according to a report by a coalition of organizations including the Alliance to Save Energy and the American Association of Blacks in Energy.
“Congress and state lawmakers need to do more to ensure that people of color do not lag behind in what is shaping up to be the biggest economic transition in recent history,” says E2 executive director Bob Keefe , a nonpartisan group that supports initiatives that benefit the environment and the economy, and one of the report's authors. "So far it has been white workers, especially white men, who have benefited from this tremendous opportunity."
The report noted that in clean energy sectors where they are most represented, women account for less than 30% of jobs, although they fill almost half of the jobs in industries across the country.
Meanwhile, black workers have the largest gap of any racial group between their representation in clean energy jobs and their numbers in the wider US workforce, the report said. They make up about 8% of clean energy workers, although they are the U.S. overall. are about 13% of the workers.
Latino workers make up about 17% of clean energy workers, which is only slightly less than the 18% of jobs in the wider US workforce. But they tend to be concentrated in entry-level manufacturing positions, "jobs that are the first to be cut when things go bad," Keefe says.
This disparity was on vivid display during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused Black and Latino workers to be disproportionately laid off in sectors such as hotels and restaurants, when businesses closed to slow the spread of the virus Was.
According to the report, of those who lost clean energy jobs during the pandemic, an estimated 23% were Latino, while overall 31% of non-white workers in the industry found themselves out of work.
high salary, good benefits
The shortage of black and female workers in the clean energy sector also resembles a gap in technology, another high-paying sector, Keefe says.
"What we're seeing in clean energy isn't much different from what we've seen in the tech industry, which is still heavily run and populated by men," Keefe says.
Bitcoin boom: El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin a national currency, and then hit a snag
Unemployment slump: Economy added 235,000 jobs in August amid COVID surge, labor shortage. Unemployment fell to 5.2%.
Keefe says the clean energy industry employs more than three million people, nearly three times the number of Americans working in the traditional fossil fuel sector. Access to clean energy jobs could help bridge the nation's gender and racial pay gap.
For example the energy efficiency sector, which focuses on energy waste and cost reduction, typically pays more than $24 an hour, which is about 28% higher than the national average wage, according to the American Council on Renewable Energy. According to a separate report from the Clean Energy Leadership Institute, and E2.
Clean energy jobs "are more likely to come with retirement and health benefits," Keefe says.
In a case study, the diversity report released Thursday focused on the role of technicians who install and fix wind turbines, which are key components for generating energy with wind.
With more than 60,000 turbines in 41 states and two territories, wind power is a growing part of the economy, and senior technicians earn about $40 an hour. But black workers and women each make up just 5% of that workforce, according to the report. Seven out of 10 turbine technicians are white, and 2 out of 10 are Latino.
proceed with equity
President Joe Biden has made climate change a key component of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that has been passed by the Senate and is expected to be voted on by the House this month. And Biden is calling on underprivileged communities to reap 40% of the benefits from federal initiatives on climate.
But to ensure inclusion, several actions are needed, advocates say.
“We need to remember that building better also means building back more equitably and ensuring that people of color have (the same) opportunities as any other American,” Keefe says. Huh.
Initiatives to help increase diversity include focusing investments in clean energy businesses owned by people of color and ensuring that those living near wind farms or electric vehicle factories are given the opportunity to work for those facilities. Go.
Keefe says that black workers could also gain access to clean energy jobs if those businesses are built beyond states like California and Massachusetts.
"The sun shines no brighter in Massachusetts than it is in Georgia or South Carolina," he says. To bring employment opportunities to those communities who have a large black population.
.png)
No comments