Green Jobs in Minnesota

by Alessia Leibert and Nicholas Dobbins
October 2010

In December 2009 the U. S. Department of Labor awarded the Minnesota Labor Market Information (LMI) office a $1.15 million grant to collect, analyze, and disseminate labor market information on green jobs in the state. The second of three rounds of data collection for this study was concluded in July, and the information gathered is presented here.

Data Sources and Research Process

Minnesota’s green jobs project uses the existing statewide Job Vacancy Survey (JVS) along with a follow-up telephone survey and secondary research to study green jobs in the state. Unlike many green jobs studies conducted in other states, the goal is to measure the current market for green jobs rather than the overall size of green employment within the state.

The JVS is a semiannual survey of employers, which uses a mailed questionnaire and a search of active job postings on company websites. The survey results produce estimates of hiring demand and job vacancy characteristics by industry and occupation in Minnesota. The response rate was 69.73 percent for the period covering second quarter 2010.

Green jobs are defined by economic activity.[1] The activity categories are:

• Renewable Energy or Alternative Fuels
• Energy Efficiency
• Environmental Cleanup
• Sustainable Agriculture or Natural Resource Conservation
• Environmental Education, Regulation,Compliance, or Research

If a respondent did not answer the “green economic activity” question but was in a previously identified green industry, their vacancies were also selected for further study.

Follow-up telephone interviews were conducted with employers to confirm the environmental activities of included positions and to gather qualitative information on skill and knowledge requirements, job duties, and hiring difficulties.

Identifying Green Jobs

A standard definition of “green jobs” does not yet exist. For our purposes, if the performance of a job directly results in an environmental benefit, that position is considered green. This means that a job vacancy for an environmental science teacher will not likely be considered green, since it is considered that a well-educated student with general knowledge of the environment provides no direct environmental benefit. However, an installer of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems would be included, despite the negative environmental impact of HVAC systems, because the incumbent makes sure those systems operate as efficiently as possible, which reduces energy usage. Because of the nascent nature of green research, widespread differences of opinions among respondents and evolving benchmarks of efficiency, a number of situations continue to require analyst judgment to determine if a position is green.

The method by which we reach a conclusion regarding the environmental benefits of a job has been refined since the beginning of the study. The telephone survey has been updated to include an opportunity for respondents to break down the green activities of a position by the amount of time spent working in individual green categories. This percentage breakdown has allowed a more accurate gauge of how green a position is and what specific activities make a position green. If, for instance, a worker in manufacturing spends a large amount of time producing a green product such as a vehicle that runs on natural gas and a smaller amount of time producing something else with no environmentally beneficial features, we are now better able to determine how much work is going into a green outcome and measure accordingly. For borderline green positions these percentages offer a valuable signpost for determining if a vacancy will be included in the study. 

Minnesota’s Green Jobs

There were 900 estimated green job vacancies found in Minnesota in second quarter 2010, which represents 2.2 percent of all job vacancies in the state at the time. The primary green activities of the vacancies are detailed in Table 1.

Nearly half of all green vacancies in the state were principally engaged in the Energy Efficiency category, which spans many economic sectors and applications. According to survey findings, energy efficiency activities in Minnesota include:

• Green construction, such as design of buildings certified as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
• Construction-related services such as weatherization, insulation, and building retrofit
• Design, manufacturing, operation, and installation of energy-efficient products (insulated windows, HVAC systems, furnaces, programmable thermostats, etc.)
• Development and manufacturing of energy-efficient transportation and advanced battery technologies
• Energy-efficient production processes (such as lean manufacturing)

Regional and Educational Characteristics of Green Vacancies

Reinforcing similar findings from the first study period (fourth quarter 2009), 70 percent of green vacancies are found in Greater Minnesota, while the overall majority of all job vacancies (58 percent) are located in the Twin Cities metro area. Despite the fact that the seven-county Twin Cities metro area has the larger labor pool, the geographic distribution of green vacancies suggests that Greater Minnesota might offer more green-job opportunities.

Findings on education requirements revealed that about 72 percent of all green vacancies need some level of schooling or training beyond a high school diploma. This contrasts with economy-wide findings in which only 48 percent of vacancies required a comparable level of education or training. The data suggest that green vacancies in general require a higher education level than their non-green counterparts.

 Eighty three percent of all green vacancies require some prior work experience, and 17 percent are managerial or first-line supervisor positions. This coincides with the findings that the majority of green vacancies require education beyond high school. Bachelor’s degrees in engineering, environmental science, and chemistry and vocational training in HVAC repair and maintenance were among the most frequently cited educational preferences by respondents.

Skills and Knowledge Requirements of Green Jobs

In addition to the below data on the state’s green jobs, the survey is designed to gather information on hiring trends and skill requirements of the positions. The largest number of respondents, 44 percent in second quarter 2010, stated that their job vacancy was a new position. This reinforces similar evidence gathered in fourth quarter 2009 and suggests job growth associated with the greening of Minnesota’s economy.

Questions designed to measure hiring difficulties and gaps in applicants’ qualifications once again suffered from an insufficient number of applicable responses for meaningful study. Likely because of the large pool of Minnesotans currently looking for work, most respondents advised that there were no difficulties finding qualified applicants to fill open positions.

Respondents were also asked if any of the following skills were necessary for the position:

• Supervisory
• Project Management
• Mathematics
• Technology Design
• Information Technology

Of these categories, the greatest number of positions required mathematical skills at levels above basic math for effective job performance. Greater than half of the estimated vacancies required at least basic math skills. 

Respondents were also asked about the importance of the following knowledge areas:

• Legal (including standards and regulations)
• Science
• Mechanical
• Sales or Marketing
• Construction

Nearly half of all estimated vacancies required either a medium or high level of mechanical knowledge on a scale of none, low, medium, or high. It was the most commonly cited knowledge requirement by a large margin — often needed for the maintenance and repair of manufacturing equipment or the installation and repair of HVAC systems. The next most common knowledge area was science knowledge, which was especially necessary in environmental conservation jobs.

Respondents were also given the opportunity to voluntarily list other important skills and knowledge areas for their position. Strong oral and written communication skills and knowledge of lean or Six Sigma principles were among the most common responses to those questions. A variety of technical knowledge and skill types were also mentioned, such as building skills, machine shop operation, welding/soldering, and calibration/operation of measuring devices.

Overall, the data strongly suggest that skills and knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas are crucial for green jobs. Further information on skills, knowledge, education, and certification requirements will become available in 2011.

Occupation and Industry Information

The information in Table 2 and Table 3 is comprised of data from the entirety of the study thus far. Table 2 displays the top 20 occupations with the largest number of green vacancies.

An estimated 25 percent of green vacancies were in designated STEM occupations. This is in contrast to the 9.7 percent of total vacancies in STEM occupations and is in line with earlier findings.

Table 3 lists 10 industries with the largest number of green job vacancies in ranked order. It also provides an example of what makes occupations green within each industry.

The final study report will be published in the Minnesota Employment Review in April or May 2011. The results of the Job Vacancy Survey can be found at: www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/jvs

[1]This refined definition identifies greeness on the basis of objectively measurable activities that are essential to job performance.

Top