The report, published Thursday by the Solar Foundation, found that more than 31,000 solar jobs were added in the U.S. between November 2013 and November 2014. According to the report, 85 percent of those jobs were new, rather than jobs that already existed but which added additional solar responsibilities. There are now a total of 173,807 people in the U.S. with jobs related to solar power, a number that’s increased by 87 percent over the last five years.
Most of the employment in the solar industry — 55.8 percent — is in jobs related to solar installation, the report found, while solar manufacturing accounts for 18.7 percent of jobs, sales and distribution accounts for 11.6 percent, and project development accounts for 8.7 percent. A few states, such as California, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York, led in solar installation from 2013-2014, but the report highlighted a few other states, such as Georgia, Indiana, Virginia, and Tennessee, which are experiencing surges in solar installation after a history of being slow to commit to the energy source.
According to the report, the solar installation sector beat out the oil and gas pipeline construction industry and the crude oil and natural gas extraction industry in 2014, creating almost 50 percent more jobs than those industries did. The report also expects solar jobs to continue to grow in 2015, predicting that more than 36,000 jobs will be added over the next 12 months.
Read more at The Solar Industry Added Jobs Nearly 20 Times Faster Than the Overall U.S. Economy in 2014
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