Michigan's 'Green Energy' Jobs Total: 315

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the number of jobs in various industries using a federal “North American Industry Classification System.’ One of those NAICS categories is "Other Power Generation," defined as follows:

"(E)stablishments primarily engaged in operating electric power generation facilities (except hydroelectric, fossil fuel, nuclear). These facilities convert other forms of energy, such as solar, wind, or tidal power, into electrical energy … provided to electric power transmission systems …"

BLS Michigan jobs totals for this category for the past nine years are displayed in their table below. Since 2001 the figure has wandered in a range of 315 to 497 jobs.

In contrast to the firm and rigorously defined NAICS definitions, "Green Economy" and "Green Jobs" are political terms characterized by loose and unverifiable definitions that vary according to who is using them and for what purpose.

For example, under the methodology employed in a 2009 “Green Jobs Report” created by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, carpenters building a house with plenty of insulation are defined as having “green jobs,” as are farmers growing corn, some of which may be used to produce ethanol. By such means the department labeled as “green” 14.6 percent of all jobs in the “Transportation Equipment Manufacturing” sector, 22 percent in “Crop Production,” 10.4 percent in “Construction of Buildings,” etc. All told, the report claimed 109,067 such “green jobs” in Michigan.

However, there is a legitimate “apples, not oranges” difference between the two sets of figures. The state’s politicized “green jobs” report includes not just energy producing activities, but also ones that may conserve. Presumably those numbers soon will be boosted by several hundred additional jobs as electric car battery plants subsidized by hundreds of million Michigan and federal taxpayer dollars come on line (see Cost to Revive Economy With Battery Plant Subsidies: $5 Trillion).

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It’s important to recognize that energy is not something anyone consumes for its own sake, but is merely a necessary input for products and services that make our lives more comfortable and convenient. To put it another way, no one goes shopping for a nice, shiny kilowatt. And the more people needed to produce energy, the more it costs, and the larger proportion of household budgets it consumes. Meaning that people then have less money available for air conditioners, automobiles, air travel and all the other desirable things that require energy to provide and operate.

Therefore, the ideal number of total jobs producing the amount of energy necessary to meet our needs is one or fewer.