Solar Jobs on the Rise

Want a job? Look to the solar industry which expects to GROW dramatically. In the next six months, 50% of the solar firms expect to add jobs.

"The solar industry is not only an economic powerhouse, but it's also a tremendous jobs creator," says Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundation.

"the growth rate for solar jobs was almost 10 times higher than the national average employment growth rate of 0.7 percent.) Compare that to the fossil fuel industry, which experienced negative growth of 2 percent over the same time period. The Solar Foundation expects the number of solar jobs to grow by about 24 percent, or about 24,000 new jobs, by August 2012."

The BIG news? Solar prices are dropping like computer prices, increasing its competitiveness and affordability, as noted in this column by Paul Krugman:
http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Krugman-It-s-time-for-solar-power-2257045.php

Says Krugman: "we're just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal."

But a familiar problem has arisen. Job skills. ""Employers are saying, 'Look, we received plenty of applications. That's not the problem. We have more applicants than we can handle. It's just that they're not skilled enough,'" Luecke says. "The message here is that to get a job, you need to be experienced, you need to be able to hit the ground running."

For details, check out the link.