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In an annual evaluation of clean energy employment, the Department of Energy reported Wednesday that 142,000 jobs were added last year, more than tripling the rate of growth in the U.S. economy and energy industry.
– Overall, the energy workforce added more than a quarter million jobs in 2023, with 56% of those in clean energy, according to the U.S. Energy and Employment Report, or USEER.
Clean energy jobs are increasingly unionized, “which means better pay, better benefits and safer work sites,” Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
DOE officials say the Biden administration’s investments in domestic clean energy are driving increases in employment and helping grow the economy.
"Our policies work." Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said infrastructure and inflation reduction programs are creating construction employment, and as America builds more manufacturing, hundreds of thousands more will follow.
Overall, clean energy jobs grew 4.2% in 2023, compared with 3.8% in 2022. The total U.S. economy saw a job growth rate of 2% in 2023, according to DOE.