BOSTON–If you have an empty commercial building or planing to build a new one, you may want to target Massachusetts’s clean energy sector.
The clean energy sector now employs nearly 99,000 workers in Massachusetts, after five consecutive years of growth, according to a report from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Boston Globe and Boston Business Journal reported.
A total of 6,439 clean energy companies across the state employ 98,895 workers, representing a 11.9 percent growth over last year, the 2015 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report found.
The increase from 2014 to 2015 is the largest since the center began collecting data five years ago, edging out the 11.8 percent increase from 2012 to 2013. From 2013 to 2014, clean energy employment grew by 10.5 percent.
Overall, the number of clean energy jobs in the state has grown by 64 percent since 2010, according to the center.
By a range of different measures, Massachusetts stands out as a clean-energy leader among states in the U.S, according to report from Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. “It has made the growth of clean energy a clear legislative and economic development priority in the state, with strong results to date in leading-edge policies, industry expansion, job creation, and increased investment and deployment.”
“With steady job growth over the past five years, the Massachusetts clean energy industry is robust,” Boston Business JOurnal quoted MassCEC interim CEO Stephen Pike as saying. “The clean energy sector is fueling small businesses and paying workers high wages across the state from Beverly to Pittsfield.”
Clean energy jobs now represent 3.3 percent of the state’s workforce and 2.5 percent of the gross state product, the report found. The report said that the clean energy industry includes workers from every county in the state, three-quarters of whom earn more than $50,000 per year, Boston Business Journal said.
“With five years of consistent job growth, the clean energy sector is an economic engine that is putting Massachusetts on the map for global leadership in clean energy,” said Peter Rothstein, president of the Northeast Clean Energy Council. “Private sector innovation and investment combined with public sector leadership on forward-thinking clean energy policies are continuing to prove to be a strong formula to drive the flourishing of this industry.”
