OLMIS

by Charles Johnson
Published Apr-21-2010

Employment, Projections, and Wages Education and Training Skills Future Research

This article is the first of a 12-month series related to Oregon's green jobs.

Oregon was awarded a $1.25 million Green Jobs Labor Market Information Improvement Grant in December 2009 aimed at increasing the state's understanding of green jobs. Thirteen occupations were selected for in-depth study based on a number of criteria, but priority was given to occupations where new or additional skills may be required for workers in the future.

One goal is to identify the differences between green jobs and non-green jobs within the same occupation. The first step of this process is to compile as much previously known information about the 13 occupations as possible prior to conducting more detailed research.

Of the 13 occupations selected for study, 11 had measurable employment in Oregon in 2008. Wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers are popularly discussed as examples of green jobs, however they are relatively new occupations and don't yet have publishable employment estimates in the United States.

Of the remaining occupations, farmworkers and laborers for crops, nurseries, and greenhouses had the most employment in 2008 and the greatest number of projected openings over the next 10 years (Table 1). However, not all of the jobs in this

occupation, or any other occupation, are green jobs. In 2008 there were only 3,189 green jobs in this occupation, indicating that only a portion of the 10-year growth will be in green jobs.

As a group, the 11 occupations represented 72,144 jobs in Oregon in 2008 and are projected to grow by 6.0 percent by 2018, adding a total of 4,320 positions. The projected growth rate for this group is slightly lower than the overall growth rate of 9.1 percent projected for all occupations in Oregon.

In a statewide survey of green jobs conducted in 2009, employers indicated that roughly two-thirds of Oregon's green jobs require no education beyond high school. However, there is often a significant difference between the minimum required education to be eligible for a job, and the education level that will make a job candidate competitive in the hiring process.

Of the 13 occupations selected, two require a bachelor's degree and two require postsecondary training. Seven of the occupations typically provide on-the-job training or require related work experience but don't require formal education beyond high school. However, a job seeker would be competitive in only two occupations if she didn't have some postsecondary education. Four of the occupations also have state-required licenses.

The Oregon Employment Department hosts an online job matching tool called iMatchSkills^® (www.iMatchSkills.org). The tool is unique in that it allows job seekers to advertise the skills they possess in addition to their past employment experience. The tool matches job seekers with job openings that have been posted to the site. Employers identify the skills they are seeking for each job opening.

Employers identified 59 unique skills they were seeking in qualified applicants for civil engineering positions, while 16 skills were identified by employers in listings for construction laborers. Differences between the number of skills requested within each occupation may indicate a diversity of activities that employees in those occupations are expected to perform.

The majority of the skills requested by employers were occupation specific; they were unique to just one of the occupations. However, there were some common threads through many of the occupations with green jobs. Ten skills were sought much more frequently than average, and in multiple occupations (Table 2).

The Oregon Employment Department will conduct in-depth research about these 13 occupations over the next year. Green jobs within each occupation will undergo extensive skills analyses to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for workers to perform those jobs. The results will be compared to similar analyses of non-green jobs within the same occupations to determine how the skills for green jobs differ from non-green jobs.

For more information about Oregon's green jobs visit www.QualityInfo.org/Green.