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1 Center for American Progress |  Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers

Growing Green Jobs in America’s

Urban Centers 

Jorge Madrid and Brennan Alvarez

September 2011

 While leaders in Washingon, D.C., search or ways o creae jobs and

kick-sar our sruggling economy, urban ceners are experiencing seady 

growh in he green economy, which is creaing well-paid jobs in commu-

niies ha have el he wors o he recession, paricularly hose wih largenumbers o Arican Americans and Lainos. Tese urban ceners are ideal

or growing a srong and equiable driver o new business and jobs.

Te Grea Recession has no impaced all Americans equally. While coun-

less amilies across all communiies are suering, daa indicae ha black 

and Laino households—concenraed in America’s urban ceners—have

el he wors o he economic malaise. In many cases, hese communiies

lack he wealh and educaional asses o hedge agains economic decline.

Green jobs are no magic bulle or solving economic dispariy and jobloss in urban communiies bu hey do oer real opporuniy o rebuild

our sruggling economy wih a srong growh segmen. Green job growh

has oupaced radiional job growh a a rae o nearly 2-o-1 in he

naion’s 100 larges meropolian ceners, all during he peak o he reces-

sion (2008 hrough 2010), according o a new repor by he Brookings

Insiue. Tese urban ceners are he vanguard o green jobs growh,

accouning or 64 percen o all jobs in ha secor.

Individuals wihou a college degree hold a large porion o hese jobs,

 which also pay a higher median wage han average. Tis is criical because

hese workers currenly make up nearly 70 percen o he American work-

orce and have radiionally been he anchor o our middle class.

Similar daa are drawn rom a 2010 sudy rom Apollo Alliance, he

Iniiaive or a Compeiive Ciy, and Green or All, which nds ha inner-

ciy green jobs have grown by 11 percen, more han 10 imes he rae o 

The green economy is a sector o the

broader economy producing goods an

services that provide environmental

benet. This can include clean energy

production, energy and water ecient

design and construction, mass transit,

conservation, waste management, and

numerous other industries that are pa

o a general shit in the way we use an

produce energy and eliminate waste.

Green jobs include workers in nearly

every industry who are part o the shit

away rom dirty energy and toward a

more sustainable economy. “Green coll

 jobs are generally reerenced as paying

living wage and accessible across a bro

range o skill levels, similar to traditiona

“blue collar” jobs. The Brookings Institu

denes “green collar” jobs as paying a

mid-level wage and including the ollow

ing occupational categories: production

transportation, installation, constructiooce administration and support, pro-

tective services, and social services.

Defining green jobs andthe green economy

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2 Center for American Progress |  Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers

inner-ciy job growh in he las decade. Likewise, he Blue Green Alliance nds ha

$93 billion in green invesmens rom he American Recovery and Reinvesmen Ac

has produced nearly 1 million jobs , wih he vas majoriy (80 percen) held by workers

 wihou a college degree, and 26 percen in he consrucion indusry.

Poliical leaders and media pundis love o debae he meris and nuances o his emerg-

ing economic secor, and he debae has become quie polarized. Conservaive com-menaors and policymakers have begun o rejec any and all invesmens ha will help

he green economy coninue o grow.

In doing so, hey are rying o sarve he ases runner on a sruggling eam. Despie he

rheoric and poliical angling, he numbers ell a disinc sory: Te green economy is

creaing jobs in he places ha need hem, and hey are he righ jobs or communiies

 bearing he wors o he recession.

Furher, even hough progress has no been nearly as enough o ll he void o he 10 mil-

lion jobs los during he recession, and despie he lack o comprehensive ederal policy ospur green growh, progress is sill driving orward. We mus srenghen our eors o grow 

and proec his emerging secor, one o he ew brigh spos in our sruggling economy,

 which also oers opporuniy o communiies who desperaely need good jobs.

Economic malaise by the numbers

Naional unemploymen raes hover a 9.2 percen. Te rae or Arican Americans is

nearly wice ha and he Laino unemploymen rae is 11.3 percen. Unemploymen

in he consrucion indusry, which represens disproporionaely large numbers o Lainos, hovers a a crippling 13.6 percen.

 According o a new sudy by he Pew Research Cener, he “wealh gap” beween whie,

 black, and Laino households rose o record heighs during he recession. Beween 2005

and 2009 inaion-adjused median wealh ell by 66 percen among Laino households

and 53 percen among black households, compared wih jus a 16 percen drop among

 whie households. Daa indicae ha ypical black households possessed jus $5,677 in

 wealh (dened as asses minus deb) in 2009. Laino households didn’ are much be-

er wih only $6,325 in wealh. Te ypical whie household, however, had $113,149. o

make maters worse, 35 percen o black and 31 percen o Laino households had zero

or negaive ne wealh in 2009, compared o jus 15 percen o whie households.

 A separae sudy by he Brookings Insiue conrms ha individuals wihou college

degrees living in meropolian areas were among hose mos aeced by he recession. No

surprisingly, blacks and Lainos also have he lowes rae o atainmen in higher educaion.

The recession decimatewealth for people

of color

Median net worth o 

households, 2005 and 2009,

in 2009 dollars

2005 2009

Hispanics BlackWhites

$113,149

$6,325 $5,677

$134,992

$18,359$12,12

Source: Pew Research Center tabulations o Surve

o Income and Program Participation data.

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3 Center for American Progress |  Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers

o be clear, his is no simply a “black and brown problem” ha can be swep under he

rug as we debae larger economic policy issues. Lainos (16 percen o he populaion)

and blacks (12 percen o he populaion) make up more han a quarer o our oal

populaion and represen he naion’s wo larges minoriy groups. High unemploymen

in hese communiies is criical or he enire U.S. economy. I ewer people are work-

ing, ewer people are spending, and economic recovery will be slow and anemic a bes.

Te economic crisis in his counry is largely a jobs crisis and hus we need a srong jobcreaor o drive economic recovery.

Enter the green economy

 As job creaion goes, we know ha we ge hree imes more jobs by invesing in he

green economy han we would by invesing in ossil uels. Tese kinds o invesmens

include energy efciency reros o buildings, renewable energy deploymen, and

developmen o mass ransi inrasrucure, all o which require labor-inensive, U.S.-

 based jobs. Mos imporanly, hese aciviies creae jobs in he mos criically hi secorso he economy, consrucion, and manuacuring.

Case in poin: CAP analysis indicaes ha reroting jus 40 percen o he naion’s

residenial and commercial building sock would require mobilizing a massive domesic

labor orce—more han hal a million (625,000) susained ull-ime jobs over a decade.

Furher, we know ha 89 percen o he maerials or reros are made in he Unied

Saes , meaning ha he sruggling manuacuring secor would also ge a boos.

On op o he jobs we could generae rom energy efciency, hese reros would also

save Americans $64 billion per year in energy coss. Ta’s $300 o $1,200 in savingsor individual amilies. Tis is especially imporan or low-income amilies in urban cen-

ers, who spend a greaer porion o heir monhly income (15 percen o 20 percen)

on energy coss. Freeing up 15 percen o 20 percen o a low-income amily’s budge is

likely o be spen on oher expendiures—such as groceries, school uiion, and ren—

hus urher simulaing he urban economy.

Invesmens in mass ransi would creae sill more jobs in he green economy. Te Apollo

 Alliance has proposed ha a serious invesmen in our naion’s public ransporaion

inrasrucure could creae 3.7 million jobs, including 600,000 alone in he manuacur-

ing secor over he nex six years. Furhermore, sudies indicae ha invesmens in public

ransporaion creae 31 percen more jobs han invesmens in new highway consrucion.

 Again, mos o hese jobs will be in he consrucion and manuacuring secor.

No only would invesmens in mass ransi creae jobs, bu hey would also increase

accessibiliy and mobiliy or he 30 percen o Americans who do no drive, many o 

 whom reside in urban neighborhoods. A sudy by he American Public ransporaion

Harvard business proessor

and widely cited economic

development expert Michae

E. Porter argues that Americ

urban centers are the “crucib

o our nation’s economic

health. He theorizes that job

creation in urban centers

with large poor and minority

populations is the “lynchpin”

or the success o virtually al

other social programs. Furth

he notes that low-income

urban populations are also

more likely to spend money

their local economy. Porter’s

research suggests that job c

ation via investments by the

government and leveraged

with private-sector capital

can not only play a critical ro

in alleviating the distressing

poverty o urban centers but

also have powerul spilloverefects to grow the regional

economy.

The importance ourban centers

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4 Center for American Progress |  Growing Green Jobs in America’s Urban Centers

 Associaion ound ha households ha use public ransporaion and live wih one less

car can save $9,000 on average every year.

wo benes o invesing in he green economy—job creaion in middle-skill occupa-

ions like manuacuring and consrucion, and cos savings or consumers—are a pow-

erully posiive combinaion or urban communiies hi hardes by he recession.

Growing good, green jobs in urban centers

 Analysis o he green economy is no simply an exercise in couning jobs; i is also an

opporuniy o creae qualiy jobs in he communiies ha need hem he mos. Looking

closer a he Brookings Insiue numbers, we nd ha he ve urban ceners wih

he larges share o he green economy also have signican populaions o blacks and

Lainos, indicaing ha his segmen o he economy is growing alongside hese diverse

populaions. Addiionally, on average, hese jobs oer a higher median wage han he

region’s average, and many (45 percen) are lled by workers wihou a college degree.

Brookings also repors ha 41 percen o he naion’s green jobs oer medium- o long-

erm career building and raining opporuniies, and 26 percen o green jobs are in he

manuacuring secor, compared o 9 percen in he radiional economy.

Te socioeconomic characerisics o green jobs –well paid, upwardly mobile, and

available o diverse communiies wih varying levels o skills and educaion—have been

long-held core values or advocaes o he green economy. Organizaions such as Green

or All , he Apollo Alliance , he Blue Green Alliance , he Cener on Wisconsin Sraegy  ,

and he Cener or American Progress have led he naional discussion ha job creaionis no jus a numbers game. Economic developmen and job creaion mus also reec

qualiy and accessibiliy in order o address longsanding economic dispariy and help

 build a srong middle class, paricularly in urban communiies o color.

Top five green job regions

 Unemployment

rateRegion

Total green

 jobs (2010)

New York 8.5% 152,034

L.A. 11.9% 89,592

Chicago 9.8% 79,338

Philadelphia 8.9% 54,325

D.C. 10.4% 70,828

Latino

population

27.0%

46.5%

26.0%

12.3%

9.1%

African American

population

26.6%

11.2%

32.8%

43.4%

50.7%

Median wage

(overall)

$38,625

$36,687

$38,625

$36,646

$58,906

Median wage

(green jobs)

$45,578

$40,910

$42,816

$43,913

$51,651

“Green collar”*

share of jobs

74.4%

70.9%

70.1%

70.3%

62.3%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau o Labor Statistics, Brookings Institute.

*The Brookings Institute denes “green collar” jobs as paying a mid-l evel wage and including the ollowing occupational categories: production,

transportation, installation, construction, ofce administration and support, protective services, and social ser vices.

In 2007 New York Times best

selling author and CAP Senio

Fellow Van Jones released th

“The Green Collar Economy.”In it he describes an econom

engine that could address th

growing economic, environ-

mental, and social disparitie

acing the “have nots” o 

society, while at the same tim

being robust enough to driv

new industries, investments

and technologies that could

propel the United States to a

more competitive and susta

able economy. The green co

economy would be centered

on cleaner, healthier, and sa

alternatives to ossil uels an

other polluting products and

industries. It has the potenti

to create jobs that were “am

supporting … in environme

tally riendly elds” and wou

encompass a wide variety o

skill and education levels. It

could, as Jones described, “li

all economic boats.”

The Green CollarEconomy

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Let the green economy grow

In order o urn our sruggling economy around, consumers need o spend money on

goods and services. o do his, Americans need jobs—all sors o jobs.

Despie he bes eors by conservaive naysayers and deracors, and he wors eco-

nomic downurn since he Grea Depression, green jobs coninue o grow. Tis is an American success sory, one ha should be celebraed, culivaed, and proeced.

In he ace o saggering and record-breaking economic dispariy, he green economy oers

real opporuniy o communiies ha desperaely need jobs. Furher, hese jobs are well

paid, wih pahs or upward mobiliy—even wihou an advanced degree. Tis is paricu-

larly crucial or black and Laino amilies, who have radiionally relied on jobs in consruc-

ion and manuacuring o gain pahways o wealh building and he middle class.

Building a srong middle class is no jus an exercise in social good; i is absoluely nec-

essary or rebuilding our economy. We have clear challenges ahead bu also a promisingpah orward. Te green economy can help us ge here.

 Jorge Madrid is a Research Associate and Brennan Alvarez is an intern at the Center 

 for American Progress.