New data from the Solar Jobs Census 2016 shows that employment in the solar-power industry increased by a historic 25% nationwide from 2015 to 2016, for a total of 260,077 workers.
The industry added 51,218 new jobs in 2016, a growth rate about 17 times faster than that of the overall U.S. economy, which grew by 1.45%. One out of every 50 new jobs added in the U.S. was created by the solar industry, representing 2% percent of all new jobs.
Growth occurred in 44 of the 50 states. And in 21 states, solar jobs grew by 50% or more, according to The Solar Foundation.
Competition among manufacturers has already brought down the cost of panels to grid parity in many places. Competition in installation can't help but bring those costs down, too.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:45PM
Put the coal miners back to work!
That's also economic activity that the coal miners and entire communities built around coal mining will vote for. Sad but true.
Make America Great Again is really just code words for make America like the 1950's again: Coal, Steel, Manufacturing, Automobiles, etc. No need for all these pesky unimportant high tech jobs.
But here's a free clue: Those 1950's jobs, while important, are not the economic engines of growth in the 21st century. The high tech jobs are. Manufacturing can also mean microprocessors, or even the designs of microprocessors manufactured elsewhere under license.
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