According to a LinkedIn report, the demand for green jobs is rising faster than the oil and gas industry and the talent required to supply it.
The report showed that the number of jobs in renewables has increased by 237 per cent over the past five years, compared to a 19% increase in oil and gas jobs.
We predict that by 2023, the number of jobs in our platform will be more than oil & gas. The report by Microsoft-owned company was found.
There has been an increase in demand for green skills, such as ecosystem management and prevention of pollution, with sustainable fashion being the fastest growing sector globally.
The data also revealed a stark gap: Green jobs accounted for only 10 percent of all hiring in 2021, while non-green jobs accounted for 50 percent.
According to the LinkedIn report, we are far from having enough green talent, green skills, or green jobs to make the green transition a reality.
Demand for green jobs is also low. This is good news and bad news for those who are applying for them, as well as for employers looking to hire them. The demand for green jobs skills increased by 8 percent between 2016-2021, but the supply of these skills remained flat at 6 percent. This leaves a significant gap.
The LinkedIn team discovered that without a faster growth rate in the number people who bring green skills to the jobs they are required, we won’t have enough human capital to meet our climate targets.
The report is based upon data from LinkedIn about job postings and hiring. LinkedIn claims to be the largest online professional network. This is a flawed metric, as is the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). reportson green employmentThese data are dependent on self-reported surveys.
A 2021 BLS report based on this data found that certain green jobs were probable tofar outpace average hiringBetween 2019 and 2029. For example, the demand in green chemists for conservation scientists and green-chemists was 5 percent higher than average; while jobs in hazardous material removal and environmental science were expected to grow at 8 percent and 50 percent respectively.
These findings were supported by the LinkedIn report, which noted that demand for skills in sustainable fashion, oil spill response and proficiency in solar system management all grew by more then 50 percent between 2016-2021.
Some of these positions were traditional jobs that are gaining popularity, and for which there is an increase in growth. The average growth rate for both solar consultants and wind turbine technicians in the past five year was 23 percent.
In the time period 2020-2021, however, wind turbine technician demand soared by nearly 90% and solar consultants nearly 60%.
However, most of the LinkedIn posts calling for green skills are not traditional jobs. They are attempts by existing organizations either to bring sustainability, supply chain, and environmental health concerns into their operations, or signal to investors that they are doing so.
This resulted in a boom of demand for jobs less specialized across industries, particularly in sustainability managers, who help reduce an organization’s environmental impact; environmental health and safety specialists who oversee public health concerns within the organization; and compliance managers who ensure organizations comply with the law.
These categories are more general and more administrative. This suggests that there is a strong demand for green jobs skills. Investors in the environment, social, governance (ESG), eager to see companies make positive changes, are driving this trend.
Some countries, such as those in the European Union which is still in the early stages for its Green Deal, and some U.S. States, are likely to face another pressure.
That has led to Europe experiencing one of the most consistent and large areas of green skill demand growth: the European automotive industry. It saw its share grow at a steady 10% annually between 2015-2021.
A few jobs in the European automotive industry grew much faster that the rest during the survey period. Demand for skills in electric vehicle, energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries soared by almost 50% each.
One glaring omission in the global report is China. China, where LinkedIn struggled for market share and ultimately shut down its service last Oct, is China. According to a company post.
