INDIANAPOLIS – A new survey of employers found that Indiana has nearly 47,000 jobs that Indiana University researchers say can be considered "green" jobs.
Those green jobs – which are labeled as such when the primary occupation leads to generating a firm's green-related products or services – account for 1.7 percent of the state's total employment.
The survey, conducted as part of an 18-month U.S. Department of Labor study, also found that Indiana has 17,437 jobs that support green business activities, but are not primarily involved in green production.
The Indiana Business Research Center – a part of the IU Kelly School of Business – worked with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to compile the labor information into a report called "Indiana Green Jobs: Employment Prospects in the Green Economy."
It is "the first broad-scale set of survey-based estimates ever produced about Indiana's current levels of green jobs by detailed industry and occupation," IU says.
According to the report, about 16 percent of Indiana jobs that are growing in demand are green. Of the 256 unique occupations that are both in high demand and earn above average wages, only 42 are green, according to the report.
The Indiana report is a companion to a study that received national attention, "Driving Change: Greening the Automotive Workforce," which also was produced by the IBRC and was issued at a conference in Dearborn, Mich., in May.
"Many workers who lost jobs still need work and many will never be hired back into the auto industry," said Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the IBRC, who directed the research. "One of the goals of the Driving Change research is to help displaced workers find new career options."
"Given that green jobs in the Hoosier state currently comprise 1.7 percent of the total workforce, the number of green jobs will be insufficient to absorb the many displaced workers, at least in the near future," Slaper said. "The industries with the greatest concentrations of green jobs in Indiana are manufacturing and construction, both under considerable stress at present and highly sensitive to economic cycles."