CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Clean Energy Investments Can Lead to Good Union Jobs

Wind Turbines, Columbia River Gorge. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

At the AFL-CIO convention in early June, union leaders spoke of how the Biden administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and its 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contributed to the creation of good union jobs in clean energy production. As discussed in CEPR’s Majority Agenda, US infrastructure is in a poor state. Our energy infrastructure receives only a D grade. The Biden administration directed$1 trillion to clean energy, and those investments have produced positive results for workers, US energy production, and the climate.

“Energy jobs grew every year of the Biden administration” and “[c]lean energy investments powered job growth in the sector,” the Roosevelt Institute reports. The Institute adds,

The lion’s share of energy job growth (72 percent) after the passage of IIJA and IRA was in clean energy, representing over 450,000 net new jobs in clean energy. Jobs in clean energy now represent nearly 44 percent of all US energy jobs.

The lion’s share of energy job growth (72 percent) after the passage of IIJA and IRA was in clean energy, representing over 450,000 net new jobs in clean energy. Jobs in clean energy now represent nearly 44 percent of all US energy........

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