Wisconsin Has More Than 71,000 Clean Energy Jobs

Monday, October 17th, 2022 -- 8:00 AM

(By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin now has more than 71,000 clean energy jobs following declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state gained back less than a third of the jobs lost during the economic downturn.

According to Danielle Kaeding of Wisconsin Public Radio, the findings are part of the latest Clean Jobs Midwest report released by nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs and nonprofit organization Evergreen Climate Innovations.

Despite COVID-19 setbacks, clean energy advocates say billions of dollars of investment through the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law are setting the stage for significant growth.

"We finally have federal policies in place that will surely lead to a clean energy boom in the coming years," said Micaela Preskill, Midwest advocate for Environmental Entrepreneurs. Wisconsin added more than 2,000 jobs last year, a nearly 3 percent increase from 2020.

More than half of those jobs were added in the clean vehicle sector as automakers shift to electric vehicles. Clean energy jobs in the state grew at a slower rate last year than the Midwest as a whole, which increased 5 percent across the region.

The Midwest added more than 714,000 jobs in 2021, gaining back roughly half the jobs lost during the downturn. As the nation saw record job growth last year, the report states clean energy jobs in Wisconsin and the Midwest grew faster than the overall economy.

Wisconsin’s clean energy industry is rebounding from the effects of COVID-19 and pandemic restrictions that prevented energy efficiency workers from entering buildings to weatherize or rehabilitate them.

"We saw that work pretty much stopped at the beginning of the pandemic because site visits were pretty much impossible to do at that time," said Francisco Sayu, emerging technology director for RENEW Wisconsin.

"But the industry shifted really quick. ... We saw the advent of remote site visits, and things like that to continue doing the work." In 2020, more than 11,000 workers in the clean energy sector filed for unemployment early in the public health crisis.

Thousands returned to work, but Wisconsin still lost roughly 7,300 clean energy jobs in 2020. That’s a 9.6 percent drop from 2019. After an unprecedented decline, the number of jobs is continuing an upward climb.

In 2021, the state saw job gains in areas like renewable energy and energy efficiency. Workers who install energy efficient lighting, air conditioning and ventilation represent the vast majority of clean energy jobs, accounting for 79 percent of such jobs in Wisconsin.

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