DOE report: Clean energy job growth doubles overall employment rate

Clean energy employment grew by 142,000 jobs in 2023. That's more than half of all new jobs in the energy sector and growth is more than twice as fast as the rest of the energy sector and the U.S. economy as a whole.

This is according to the 2024 US Energy and Employment Report (USEER), a study published by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to track and understand employment trends across the energy sector.

As the private sector continues to announce major investments in American-generated energy, the 2024 USEER shows that the energy sector as a whole will have created over 250,000 new jobs in 2023, with 56% of those in clean energy.

Clean energy union density was 12.4%, above the energy sector average of 11%, driven by growth in unionized construction and utilities. Sectors with the strongest growth include renewable energy and transmission, distribution and storage.

“We are now seeing the first employment impacts of the investments made under the infrastructure and anti-inflation bills: first in construction, and as America builds more of these factories, we will see hundreds of thousands more,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm.

“The data clearly shows that clean energy means jobs – good jobs, union jobs and jobs that are retained – in communities across the country as we vie for dominance in the global clean energy economy.”

This year's report reflects survey responses from 42,000 companies across the country.