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Jobs Billowing on Wind Projects

By Rick Laezman | Jul 12, 2024
Wind farm windmill green energy money economic

A recent paper released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looks closely at the the economic benefits of wind power and makes some significant findings about the employment and wage benefits of wind development.

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The environmental and energy benefits of wind power have been well-established, and investment in the industry has generated tremendous growth. Much less attention has been paid to the economic benefits of wind power, even though the industry’s growth will have its own effect on labor markets.

A recent paper released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looks closely at this dynamic and makes some significant findings about the employment and wage benefits of wind development.

Released in June 2024 and accepted for publication later this year in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the paper, “Distributional Equity in the Employment and Wage Impacts of Energy Transitions,” is a collaboration between the Lab and the Colorado School of Mines.

The paper investigates the effects of wind energy development on employment and wage rates in communities near wind development, and the distribution of those effects within communities. Specifically, the researchers studied worker-level data gathered in 23 states from communities where wind farms have been developed within 20 miles of workers’ residences.

The study finds that being exposed to utility-scale wind installations within 20 miles increases employment by a statistically significant 0.42 percentage points for the average worker. Given that approximately 55,000 workers live within 20 miles of a utility scale wind project, this translates to an average effect of approximately 231 jobs per project.

The study also finds the earnings and employment impacts have a noticeably different impact across subpopulations. For example, Black workers experience the largest proportional marginal impact. Men also enjoy larger gains than women. Finally, workers without a high school diploma have the largest proportional gains among the study’s four educational categories, followed by workers with a college degree.

The study notes that the method of examining worker-level data produces far more significant results than using only county level data, which has been the method for other studies.

About The Author

LAEZMAN is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer who has been covering renewable power for more than 10 years. He may be reached at [email protected]

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