OLMIS

by Charles Johnson
Published Jun-22-2010

Washington Idaho Montana

The Oregon Employment Department is not the only group conducting green jobs related research in the Northwest. Both Washington and Idaho also received grant funds from the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to conduct research. Montana is leading a consortium of states throughout the country to learn more about green jobs as well.

The Washington Employment Security Department conducted two surveys of their state's green jobs. The most recent survey found nearly 100,000 green jobs in the state, equaling just more than 3 percent of the state's employment. Of the state's green jobs, nearly half are related to preventing and reducing environmental pollution. Producing renewable energy was the state's smallest green jobs area, totaling less than 4,000 positions.

Washington plans to use grant funds they recently received to improve access to their green jobs information. The work group wants to add green indicators to their existing products, create regional data profiles, enhance their website to allow for user customization, and expand their mapping and charting functions.

The Idaho Department of Labor is using grant funds to conduct a job vacancy survey and develop career ladders and lattices for green jobs. Researchers hope to identify how many job openings exist in the state and how many need green knowledge and skills. They will also study wages, education, and training for green jobs throughout the state. Idaho's findings will be distributed through the Idaho Career Information System and the department will be creating web-based tools for the public to use.

The Montana Department of Labor and Industry is leading a group of six states that are researching green industries and occupations. The group wants to know if the mix of occupations needed for green companies differs from non-green companies. They also plan to develop a system for projecting demand for green jobs in the future. The group will be conducting a "new hires" survey to see what attributes enable new workers to be successful, and they will be identifying new green projects in their states in an attempt to measure their economic impacts.

All of this research and product development will be completed no later than May 2011. More information about green jobs research being funded by the ETA can be found at www.greenjobs.workforce3one.org. The Oregon Employment Department will post all of the information related to green jobs in Oregon at www.QualityInfo.org/Green.