The Labor Center Green Economy Program conducts research on issues of job creation, quality, access, and training in the emergent green economy. In addition, we provide research and technical assistance to state agencies, labor, and other stakeholders who are engaged in developing and implementing policy related to energy and climate change in California and nationally.
April 13, 2021
High-Road Jobs and Climate Action: Lessons from California for the Nation
September 3, 2020
Putting California on the High Road: A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030
November 12, 2020
Prevailing wage in solar can deliver good jobs while keeping growth on track
October 3, 2020
My Turn: Recommendations to help California’s economic recovery and to take action on climate
September 3, 2020
Clean energy jobs are coming. Here’s how to make sure they’re good jobs
A series of briefs summarizing the recommendations for some of the critical climate sectors addressed in the Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030: electricity generation, energy efficiency, electric vehicle manufacturing and charging infrastructure, public transit and infill development, trucking, and waste.
Experience has shown that prevailing wage actually accelerates solar development. In California, the predominate use of union labor on utility-scale solar projects has fortified political support from organized labor for legislation and regulatory policy that continues to accelerate in-state solar development.
Jobs v. environment is a false choice. And with the pandemic-induced economic downturn and the fires hurting Californians around the state, it’s clearer than ever that we must make meaningful progress on both fronts simultaneously, crafting an economic recovery that advances equity, climate resilience, and job quality.
California’s ambitious path towards a carbon-neutral economy is complex, involves and affects different industries and occupations in multiple ways, and holds both promise and challenges for the state’s working families. The analysis and recommendations here present actions that show a high road to climate policy is both valuable and feasible.
With the pandemic-induced economic downturn and uncertainty hurting Californians across the state – and with the fires a reminder of the urgent need for climate action – the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) today submitted a new report to the Legislature highlighting a path forward for an economic recovery that advances the Administration’s high road principles of economic equity, climate resilience, and job quality.
A report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center disputed the solar industry argument that prevailing wage laws significantly increase solar costs and slow investment. According to the report, installation labor accounts for 6 to 11 percent of project costs, so a 50 percent increase in those labor costs would increase total costs 3 to 5 percent.
An economic study from the UC Berkeley Labor Center, confirms what we already know: paying workers family-sustaining wages is not a burden to the large-scale solar industry.
The Green New Deal program has enormous potential to generate mass popular support. But absent real leverage from labor, it’s likely to be continually watered down into a toothless slogan for NGOs.
Providing support for workers affected by the energy transition could prove critical to accelerating climate action, Zabin said. If these communities fear they won’t be able to support their families, she said, their fear will turn into resistance that may stall climate policy.
Excessive focus on job training, the declining power of unions and other trends over the last few decades mean that green energy jobs are, in many cases, not the quality, family-supporting jobs still available in the fossil fuel industry, according to Carol Zabin.
Carol Zabin
Director, Green Economy Program
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