While everyone knows that solar is good for the environment, did you also know that solar is one of the fastest growing sources of new jobs right now?
See this infographic from the National Solar Foundation’s Solar Jobs Census!
State of the States
- Solar jobs exist in all 50 states and are growing at a very brisk pace in most states.
- Twenty-eight states (including the District of Columbia) saw positive growth over 2014.
- While this growth was observed in all regions of the country, solar employment remains highly concentrated, with the top six solar states accounting for over 50% of the employment growth seen in the last year.
- As in previous years, California continues to lead in both solar employment and installed solar capacity.Of the 54,690 solar workers in the state, nearly 60% are found in the installation sector. By the end of 2015, California is expected to account for just over 64,000 solar workers, approximately two-thirds of the workers employed by the entire national industry just five years ago.
- Massachusetts saw a significant increase in solar employment in 2014 – to the tune of 3,000 new jobs – unseating Arizona as the second-largest employer of solar workers. Though Arizona fell to 3rd in 2014, solar employment there grew by 7.2% to 9,170 workers, which is especially welcome news given the large decrease in employment seen in the year prior. By the end of 2015, Arizona is expected to employ over 11,000 solar workers – a 13% increase over the 9,800 jobs found in 2012.