Youngstown Daily Legal News

Ohio ranks third in Midwest for clean energy jobs

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: April 23, 2019

According to analysis by the Clean Energy Trust and the national, nonpartisan Environmental Entrepreneurs, or E2, more than 112,000 Ohioans work in clean energy industries, the state having added 4,975 of those jobs last year alone.

Led by 17 percent growth in advanced transportation, Ohio's clean energy jobs now make up 2.1 percent of all jobs in Ohio with employers expecting a 7.4 percent increase in jobs for 2019, according to Clean Jobs Midwest.

Across all industries, clean jobs grew 4.6 percent in 2018.

"This report and these jobs numbers should be a signal to Ohio that investing in clean energy solutions is an investment in our economic future," said Tim Donovan, partner at Cincinnati-based Donovan Energy. "The energy advances workers and businesses are producing across Ohio will attract new jobs, keep more of our young population in state, and helps make our energy more reliable, affordable, and local."

Energy efficiency once again led all clean energy sectors in Ohio, employing 81,676 workers - accounting for seven in 10 of all clean energy workers. Advanced Transportation came in second, followed by Renewable Energy Generation, the study found.

The state's clean energy workforce employs more than 13 times as many people than all the computer programmers and web developers in the state, according to Department of Labor Employment Statistics.

Contributing the most clean energy jobs were Cuyahoga County with 13,788, Franklin County with 13,096 and Hamilton County reporting 11,079.

There are 55,075 jobs in the three major metro areas combined, while 17,711 jobs came from Ohio's rural areas, the study detailed.

"With job growth across the renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, and advanced transportation sectors, this report shows that Midwestern economies are benefiting from the clean energy industry," said Erik Birkerts, CEO of Clean Energy Trust. "Further, this report indicates that the Midwest is creating jobs in the clean energy industry more quickly than the rest of the country - a sign the Midwest is a good place for clean energy businesses to grow."

Other key findings include:

• Construction and manufacturing make up the majority of clean energy jobs;

• Advanced transportation technologies grew 16.6 percent in 2019, adding 2,374 jobs;

• Small businesses drive the state's clean energy sectors, with 63 percent of clean energy businesses employing fewer than 20 individuals; and

• 11.4 percent of Ohioans employed in clean energy are veterans, compared to the national average of six percent.

"Since we began tracking this data four years ago, the Midwest has seen significant growth every year - adding nearly 170,000 clean energy jobs since 2015," said Micaela Preskill, E2 Midwest states advocate. "This report clearly proves that clean energy in the Midwest is not just a trend, it is driving economic growth and opportunities across the region."

Across the entire 12-state region, the study found that clean energy employment totaled 737,030 at the end of last year - led by Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio each with more than 100,000 jobs and four other states accounting for over 50,000 jobs.

The report follows E2's Clean Jobs America analysis which found the clean energy jobs account for nearly 3.3 million jobs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Both reports expand on data from the 2019 U.S. Energy and Employment Report produced by the Energy Futures Initiative in partnership with the National Association of State Energy Officials, using data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership.

The report is available at www.usenergyjobs.org.

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