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

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

Illinois’ recently passed Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) should help fuel green jobs, as should a planned $1.2 trillion national infrastructure investment. In fact, the Prairie State’s green economy already includes almost 31,000 workers, according to Emsi Burning Glass, the firm that collected and analyzed original data for “Green Jobs Now.” Green employment demand is projected to grow another 6.5% over the next five years, faster than the national projection of 5.7%.

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“We’re trying to increase the percentage of solar in Illinois from 9% to 50%,” Delmar Gillus Jr., chief operating officer of Elevate, a non-profit that helped develop CEJA, told WorkingNation for “Green Jobs Now.” “In order to do that, you need a very significant growth in the workforce. Specific jobs would include things like solar installer, solar maintenance, solar sales, all of the support services. When you start kind of building the workforce, you’re going to need more accountants, lawyers, and all of the other roles. Anything from procurement, equipment manufacturing – all of those things are going to be part of this economy.”

“Green Jobs Now: Illinois” 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 having training available. In Illinois, Emsi Burning Glass estimates nearly 2 million workers, given access to training, could be reskilled into green jobs.

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“Green Jobs Now: Illinois” 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, Arkansas, and nationally.

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

• a WorkingNation.org article by Laura Aka that takes a closer look at CEJA.
• an episode of the “Work Green, Earn Green” audio podcast.
• an “I Want That Job!” video offering an inside look at a green occupation.
• an Emsi Burning Glass report detailing green jobs data and trends in Illinois.

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