During these long days of economic hardship, somewhere along the way the "green jobs" industry was anointed the Holy Grail of job growth; the savior of economic revitalization.
But really, green jobs have not served in much more than a feel-good, buzz-word capacity, according to many experts, including Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University who said in a recently published op-ed in Forbes that "All told, green jobs constitute barely 700,000 positions across the country – less than 0.5% of total employment.
He goes on to say: "Indeed a recent study by Sam Sherraden at the center-left New America Foundation finds that, for the most part, green jobs constitute a negligible factor in employment – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future."
Don’t get me wrong; I do not oppose solutions that improve our environment – but I believe we must allow the free market to prevail in creating a truly robust green industry and we should oppose government intervention vis-à-vis mandates. Investors are scared off by government mandates and more turned on by incentives, Kotkin says.
“With the right tax advantages, energy efficiency could become a positive imperative for companies,” he adds.