As the U.S. economy began to reopen in June, some employees returned to work in the clean energy sector, which had been reeling from three months of devastating job losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest analysis of federal unemployment filings from E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), E4TheFuture and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).

About 106,300 jobs were added back to the economy by clean energy companies in June, according to the analysis by BW Research, leaving over half-a-million clean energy workers (514,200) out of work since March. In all, clean energy employment is still down 15 percent from the start of the year, when nearly 3.4 million Americans worked in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean vehicles and fuels and other clean energy sectors. 

While the June jobs improvement is an encouraging sign of clean energy's ability to quickly put Americans back to work, resuming a robust recovery in one of the nation's biggest employment sectors anytime soon remains unlikely without direct action by Congress. Only one out of every six clean energy jobs lost since March returned in June, and as federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds are exhausted and states are forced to close businesses again in the face of COVID-19's resurgence, more layoffs could be imminent without congressional action. According to the analysis, as many as 2.3 million clean energy workers are employed by small businesses that received PPP loans.

Other troubling trends include a sharp increase in permanent job losses, rising initial weekly unemployment claims, and COVID-19 cases spiking in states with some of the largest clean energy workforces, according to the analysis.

Before COVID-19, nearly 3.4 million Americans worked in clean energy occupations - renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, clean vehicles and fuels - in every state. That's more people than work in real estate, banking, or agriculture in the U.S., and three times the number that work in fossil fuels. Clean energy jobs had been growing 70% faster than the overall economy from 2015-2019, according to E2's Clean Jobs America report.

National Highlights from June:

• Energy efficiency, the largest clean energy sector, experienced a 4% gain in employment, with the addition of approximately 71,800 jobs. The energy efficiency sector continues to suffer from 360,000 job losses impacting a full 15% of its workforce.
• Renewable electric power generation saw a 3.5% rise in employment, with nearly 17,300 jobs regained in June. A total of 82,400 renewable electric power generation workers (14% of the sector's workforce) remain unemployed due to the pandemic.
• Clean fuels and clean transmission, distribution, and storage saw smaller rebounds in June, gaining 2,400 and 4,600 jobs, respectively. The complete impact of the pandemic on clean fuels and clean transmission, distribution, and storage totals 38,200 and 22,800 lost jobs from their respective, pre-pandemic employment levels. Clean fuels jobs have dropped more than 10% since March, while clean transmission, distribution, and storage jobs have dropped nearly 16% thus far.
• Clean vehicles added back less than 5% of its workforce, or 10,300 jobs in June. The clean vehicles sector continues to experience a nearly 15% decline in jobs over its pre-COVID-19 employment levels. This translates to 38,200 ongoing job losses.

Monthly Clean Energy Job Losses by Sector

State and Local Highlights from June:

• California had the largest increase, with 5% of its clean energy workforce or 19,800 jobs returning in June. Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, and Florida each added nearly 6,000 clean energy jobs in June.
• States that have fared better than average as a percent of their workforce include North Carolina, Michigan, and North Carolina, all growing about 6% or more in June.
• Alaska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Montana saw the smallest growth, all with less than 250 jobs gained over the past month.

The data analyzed for this report did not include workers who had their hours slashed and are now significantly underemployed.

ACORE | www.acore.org

E2 | www.e2.org

E4TheFuture | www.e4thefuture.org