The environmental sector is, by all indicators, a strong sector that will provide great opportunities to job seekers well into the future. Environmental career opportunities are currently growing or holding steady across all sectors. Environmental engineers, hazardous materials removal specialists, pollution prevention, energy efficiency, and environmental science and protection technicians are among the "hottest jobs". However, accurate statistics about environmental jobs are not tabulated well by the federal government for the simple reason that many "environmental jobs" defy the classic methods of measuring employment. Many environmental jobs, including those in the nonprofit sector, do not fit into the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code system as clearly as other job types do, making federal and state labor statistics unreliable. In addition, environmental jobs cut across all types of employment, making clear-cut classification difficult.
Due to this difficulty in categorizing jobs in the environmental sector, estimates on the total number of environmental jobs in the U.S. range from 2 million to 5 million. The lower figure is probably low due to the environmental jobs that are missed in counting. The higher number is due to a broader definition of what "working for the environment" means. The "environmental job" that most people think of actually constitutes only a small portion of all of the jobs created by environmental protection. Management Information Services, Inc. defines environmental industries and green jobs as "those which, as a result of environmental pressures and concerns, have produced the development of numerous products, processes, and services, which specifically target the reduction of environmental impact. Environment-related jobs include those created both directly and indirectly by environmental protection expenditures."
Using this definition, the vast majority of the jobs created by environmental protection are standard jobs for accountants, engineers, computer analysts, clerks, factory workers, truck drivers, and mechanics who may not work for an "environmental" company, but whose day-to-day work is part of the environmental economy. Many of these people wouldn't thank environmental protection for their employment. But as the environmental industry continues to increase, a broader understanding of the breadth of the industry and its benefits to workers and the economy is likely.
The environmental job market has grown steadily since it burst onto the scene in with the national environmental laws of the 1960s and 1970s. Those laws required data, enforcement and technological innovation to implement. Today, environmental practices and processes remain a large part of government on all levels, and are a part of everyday business for many companies. Pollution prevention -- instead of after the fact clean-up -- is the norm for many companies. The large number of environmental laws and regulations in this country create the need for environmental technologies and services. As the economy grows, increasing impacts on the environment from air and water pollution from industry will require further remediation workers and companies. Finally, emerging issues like global climate change will create the demand for new strategies, experts and industries to address them.
A series of broad trends impact job seekers. One is the coming retirements of a large percentage of the current environmental and conservation workforce, especially in federal and state government agencies. The federal government environmental work force is just under 200,000 people, spread out over numerous agencies including the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, United State Geological Survey and others. It is estimated that between 30-50 % of those workers are eligible for retirement within the next several years.
New hiring will be needed to replace and repair much of the environmental infrastructure in the United States and, for those interested in international work, throughout the world. This infrastructure includes water and wastewater systems, transportation systems, wildlife habitat and restoration, and more. The U.S. water system alone will require over $200 billion in upkeep and reconstruction within the next several decades.
A third favorable factor is the very rapid growth of the green or alternative economy: organic products, recycling, alternative energy, conservation work, fair trade and green investments, products from sustainable forestry practices, eco-tourism, and more. The rapid growth of the sustainable economic sector also holds great promise for job seekers.
The growth of the environmental job market has been steady, even through economic downturns. It is often called "recession-proof", due the to environmental industry's basis on laws and regulations that are not buffeted by economic fluctuations. Growth has slowed somewhat as the sector has matured, but growth is projected to expand at a 2-3% faster rate than many other economic sectors. (MISI) And, experts say, if the U.S. were to commit to "creating and managing a sustainable environment", those number would explode. Workers across all environmental sectors would be needed to help the nation transition to more environmentally friendly processes and products. New jobs would be created to develop and build alternative energy systems for residential and industrial use, to create more efficient transportation systems based on sustainable fuels, and to spearhead a host of other new and expanded national efforts to engage the U.S. in what is called the next, great challenge to humankind: how to ensure that our society prospers without ruining the natural world upon which it depends.
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