Project Green
By Anne Arthur
September 2010
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A DEED research team is gathering information on green jobs in Minnesota.
Which industries are creating green jobs in Minnesota and how much potential is there for growth in those areas? Finding the answer to those and other questions is part of the goal of an 18-month green study that is under way in DEED’s Labor Market Information Office (LMI).
LMI was awarded a $1.15 million grant last December to collect, analyze and disseminate labor market information on green jobs in the state. The grant was a part of $55 million in funding that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded last year to help states study the potential for green job growth in industries such as recycling and alternative energy.
For the Minnesota project, the LMI green research team is gathering three rounds of data. The information is being collected, in part, through Minnesota’s statewide semi-annual Job Vacancy Survey. In the survey, employers are being asked to identify job vacancies that they consider to be green-based and whether the positions fit within any of five “green categories” (see sidebar for more details).
Employers who identify green job vacancies are then contacted and asked to participate in an in-depth telephone interview. Through the interview, more detailed data are being gathered to better understand the specific factors that contribute to the “greenness” of the positions.
Grant Products
Data collection and analysis are just part of the project, however. Other activities include:
- Creating a Web-based “green portal” that will highlight information about green jobs in Minnesota. It will include about 50 career profiles as well as 15 short videos that feature “a-day-in-the-life” of various green positions. The portal will be hosted at www.iseek.org and will be operational by May 2011.
- Developing an interactive Web-based tool that will show green job opportunities by industry sector, such as wind, ethanol and energy-efficient construction. This tool also will be hosted on the ISEEK website.
- Creating a better understanding of the educational programs and skills that people will need to train for careers in green jobs.
- Disseminating research-related data to job seekers, employers, schools and students through statewide publications (such as MnCareers, Minnesota Economic Trends and Minnesota Employment Review), conferences and classroom presentations, Minnesota Workforce Centers, and the DEED and ISEEK websites.
More Information on the Study
For more details about the Green Grant Project, read an article entitled “Green Jobs in Minnesota” in the June issue of Minnesota Review at www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/review.
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Defining Green Jobs
Researchers do not yet have a standard definition for green jobs. Different factors can contribute to “occupational greenness” such as the type of product made (or service offered), production processes used, and the type of industry in which the occupation operates.
In order to determine which job vacancies in Minnesota might be green, we asked employers to let us know whether their job vacancy titles fell into any of the following categories:
- Environmental education, regulation, compliance or research
- Sustainable agriculture or natural resource conservation
- Environmental cleanup
- Energy efficiency
- Renewable energy or alternative fuels
If employers marked titles as falling into at least one of these categories, we contacted them to ask more detailed questions through a standardized telephone survey. A team of analysts then looked at a variety of factors to determine whether (1) each job title was directly involved in a green process, product or service and (2) whether those activities were an essential part of the job.
You can read more about the attempt to standardize green definitions on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website at www.bls.gov/green/ .
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