About 35% of architects, engineers and contractors have green projects, representing 661,000 jobs or about one-third of the industry workforce, reports McGraw-Hill Construction. That share is expected to increase over the next three years, with 45% of all design and construction jobs being green by 2014.“Green jobs are already an important part of the construction labor workforce, and signs are that they will become industry standard,” said Harvey Bernstein, a vice president with McGraw-Hill Construction. “As green takes over construction activity, so too will green take over the construction workforce.”
The research shows:
Fort-five percent of architect, engineer and construction (AEC) firms expect to have green jobs by 2014, in line with the green building market share of 48%-50% by 2015.
Fifteen percent of trade jobs today are green; this is expected to increase to 25% in three years.
Green jobs yield more opportunity (42%) and better career advancement (41%), say survey respondents.
Thirty percent of green job workers say they needed major training when they started, and most report that formal education and training programs will continue to be needed. Seventy-one percent of hiring decision makers say green-certified increases competiveness.
“Green jobs” are defined as those involving more than 50% of work on green projects or designing and installing uniquely green systems.
