The country added 142,00 jobs in EV and battery manufacturing, renewables and related sectors, amounting to more than half of new employment in the energy industry.
Clean energy jobs grew last year at more than double the pace of jobs in the rest of the energy industry and in the US economy overall, buoyed by Biden administration policies to fight climate change.
Employment in clean energy rose 142,000 from 2022, or 4.2%, compared to economy-wide job growth of 2%. Those jobs account for more than half of new jobs in the US energy industry, the Department of Energy said in a report Wednesday.
The electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors, as well as transmission, distribution and storage, experienced “significant” growth, according to the report.
Solar and wind — which have faced challenges as high interest rates weighed on financing — saw jobs grow by 5.3% and 4.5% respectively.
For the first time, the annual US Energy and Employment Report tracked construction jobs related to clean energy manufacturing and supply chains.
New fossil fuel jobs were mixed. More than 77,000 natural gas jobs climbed 13.3%, while petroleum jobs declined 44,000 or 6%. As gas, wind, and solar replaced coal, approximately 8,500 coal employment vanished, or 5.3%.