Are Green Jobs the Future of Employment? Read More and Find Out!
Global Green Skills Report 2022
4-jan-2023
The Global Green Skills Report 2022 provides data on green skills and jobs from all across the world. The report aims to provide valuable insights that can assist in the transition to a green economy.
The creation of green jobs is an important part of the transition process. We expect millions of new jobs to be created in the next decade to meet the demand for climate policies. For example, over the last five years, renewables & environment jobs in the U.S. have increased by 237%, compared to oil & gas jobs that have increased by just 19%.
Globally, we are also seeing more green talent entering the workforce. The share of green talent increased from 9.6% in 2015 to 13.3% in 2021 (a growth rate of 38.5%).
Growth in the green economy needs to be accelerated. LinkedIn data shows that hiring for green skill talent is rising globally, but not at the rate required. In 2021, less than 1% of hiring involved green jobs, and half involved jobs without any green skills.
Currently, there is a balance between demand and supply for green jobs, but it is projected that in 5 years’ time, demand for green jobs will exceed supply. Therefore, our workforce must acquire green skills.
Demand determined from share of green job postings. Supply determined from the share of
members who have skills for green jobs.
The hiring of green jobs in the global workforce is rising faster than any other category. But together green and greening jobs still only accounted for 10% of hiring in 2021.
Trends vary across different regions and sectors, but the takeaway is the same: at this pace, moving toward a green economy will require workers to upskill in green and enter green, greening, and greening potential jobs.
While more workers are transitioning into green and greening jobs than are leaving, the total number of workers moving into those jobs is still really low. Today, almost all green jobs are filled by those coming from green jobs. Transitions into Green from Greening and Greening Potential show some promise but are still well below what is needed to contribute meaningfully to a greener economy.
In 2019, the hiring balance tipped towards green talent, as the green hiring rate accelerated ahead of the overall hiring rate in most economies around the world. This means that, globally, green workers were hired at a higher rate than non-green workers. The pandemic has accelerated this trend, which suggests that green talent has been relatively more resilient to an economic downturn than non-green talent.
Currently, there is a relatively good balance in the supply and demand of green skills. Half of the top 10 in-demand green skills match the most popular skills among the green workforce.
Some skills in high employer demand that show relatively lower prevalence in the workforce, are Remediation, Recycling, OSHA, Climate and Solar Energy — but the last three listed are among the fastest growing skills in 2016–2020. And several of the fastest growing green skills across all sectors during the same time period were not necessarily in-demand skills, but suggest the emergence of new trends, including Sustainable Fashion, Oil Spill Response and Sustainable Business Strategies, among others.
Policymakers must commit to green skills, be their champion and prepare the workforce. Business leaders must invest in upskilling current and future green talent. The global workforce has to build green skills to power change and compete for the best jobs.
In the wake of the pandemic, the world is witnessing a historic transformation in how people work, why they work, and where they work. Achieving our collective global climate targets is a monumental task, and it is going to take a whole-of-economy effort to make it happen. That means we need a transformation in the skills and jobs people have if we’re going to get there.
Source: LinkedIn Economic Graph
