‘Green Jobs Now: Arkansas’ – Data-Driven Report by WorkingNation Examines the State’s Growing Green Economy

WorkingNation, a nonprofit news organization reporting on the future of work, today released “Green Jobs Now: Arkansas” – multimedia reports and original data showing how green jobs affect Arkansas’ economy and how upskilling the workforce in green ways could drive economic growth.

Arkansas’ green economy includes 6,558 workers – and the number is growing, according to Emsi Burning Glass, the firm that collected and analyzed original data for the project. In fact, a projected increase in employment demand of 9% over the next five years should easily outpace the projected national average of 5.7%.

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“For Arkansas, the future for us is bright … [and] gets even brighter with the green jobs because there are going to be more and more coming,” Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston told WorkingNation. “We’ve got a strong legacy in agriculture and steel and timber, and really across the board. In the future, green jobs are going to be crosscutting over all those sectors, so we’re going to benefit from that.”

Additionally, a planned $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure investment should help drive green jobs nationally and in Arkansas.

“Green Jobs Now: Arkansas” identifies the state’s most in-demand green skills overall and for selected occupations, and suggests certain workers could get annual salary boosts of perhaps $1,700 or more by applying green skills, with boosts upwards of $4,000 for some positions. That demonstrates the value to workers of learning green skills and to local employment economies of ensuring training is available. In Arkansas, Emsi Burning Glass estimates 444,972 workers could be reskilled into green jobs if they gained access to training.

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“Green Jobs Now: Arkansas” is the latest state-focused installment of the WorkingNation/Emsi Burning Glass “Green Jobs Now” series, a data-driven journalism project to define and identify green jobs and skills, pinpoint where workers can find them, and present a vivid snapshot of the green economy. Prior installments looked at green jobs in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Colorado, and nationally.

The Arkansas reporting, supported by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, includes:

• a WorkingNation.org article by Laura Aka on how Arkansas’ agricultural sector – particularly rice farming, where Arkansas produces nearly half of the U.S. crop – is implementing sustainable methods and creating green jobs in science and research.
• an episode of the “Work Green, Earn Green” audio podcast in which host Jay Tipton takes a closer look at the environmental implications of rice.
• an “I Want That Job!” video offering an inside look at plastics recycling.
• an Emsi Burning Glass report detailing green jobs data and trends in Arkansas.

Organizations seeking to access WorkingNation’s data and experts may reach out to the contact below.

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