The 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report finds that the Traditional Energy and Energy Efficiency sectors today employ approximately 6.4 million Americans. These sectors increased in 2016 by just under 5 percent, adding over 300,000 net new jobs, roughly 14% of all those created in the country. The solar workforce increased by 25% in 2016, while wind employment increased by 32%.
Clean Jobs Midwest, a survey of clean energy employment in 12 Midwestern states found that the region employs 569,000 workers in in clean energy including renewable energy generation, clean transmission, energy efficiency, clean fuels, and advanced transportation, and that the clean energy economy is growing in each state. Further, there is a 4.4 percent projected growth rate in the region in clean energy jobs compared with the national employment average growth of 0.5 percent.
In Wisconsin there are 24,714 clean energy jobs with a 4.8 percent projected growth. Seventy-one percent are in energy efficiency and 23 percent in renewable energy. In the renewable energy sector, more than 65 percent are in solar followed by bioenergy.