Green Collar Jobs – Not On This Planet
Ben Lieberman /
A key argument in favor of the stimulus package is that it contains several measures that are not only good for the environment but will create new jobs and boost the economy. From the people who make wind turbines and solar panels to those who install insulation in buildings or design electric cars, the predicted number of so-called green collar jobs to be created stretches into the hundreds of thousands. But reality says otherwise. In fact, everywhere that these green measures have been tried, unemployment has increased, not decreased. The same will happen across the U.S. if the stimulus package is enacted.
Take California, the state hyped by the proponents of green collar jobs as a model for the rest of the nation. This is a state that has already moved aggressively on several things in the stimulus package – tough energy efficiency measures to drive down consumption, alternative energy requirements, and legislation to fight global warming.
Governor Schwarzenegger and other green stimulus proponents have hyped these provisions as green in both the environmental and economic sense and thus a win-win for the state. However, notwithstanding questions about the supposed environmental benefits, it has become clear in recent months that California’s economy is nothing less than a basket case. The green stimulus measures are a contributor to the malaise.
Unemployment in California is now at 9.3 percent, well above the 7.6 percent for the nation as a whole. (It should be noted that the 7.6 percent national average is for January 2009 while state unemployment numbers for January haven’t been released. Thus, California’s 9.3 percent unemployment could likely be higher.) That’s correct – the state that has done more than any other to create green collar jobs has higher overall unemployment than most – only Rhode Island, South Carolina and Michigan rank higher. California is also near bankruptcy (if not there already), and many businesses are leaving for less hostile locations. And at a time that President Obama announced a task force headed by Vice President Biden to deal with the burgeoning problems facing the middle class, California is seeing its middle class to flee in substantial numbers. Some model. (more…)