(Reuters) WashingtonThe Energy Department said on Wednesday that clean energy unionization overtook the wider energy industry for the first time and increased at more than double the rate of the country's total jobs in 2023.
Employment in clean energy businesses - including wind, solar, nuclear and battery storage - rose by 142,000 jobs, or 4.2% last year, up from a rise of 3.9% in 2022, the U.S. Energy and Employment Report said.
The rate was above the overall U.S. job growth rate of 2% in 2023. Overall energy jobs rose 250,000, with 56% being in clean energy.
Unionization in renewable energy was 12.4%, compared to 11% in the energy industry. The government stated building and utilities expansion and the bipartisan CHIPS Act and President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 drove that.
Clean energy construction employment "is expected to continue for decades to build out the clean energy infrastructure that we need," Energy Department chief of energy jobs Betony Jones told reporters.
Over 18,000 utility-scale and rooftop solar jobs became available, up 5.3%. California has lost over 17,000 solar installation jobs due to high financing rates and the state's lowering of net meter rates.
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%.