Green jobs to create an explosion of opportunity in Michigan?

Michigan has a long history of building cars, but now the state is finding itself in a situation that demands more diversity, the inverse effect of a struggling automotive industry. Given those trends and its existing manufacturing infrastructure it makes sense that Michigan is pushing aggressively toward the creation of green jobs. But how successful is that initiative?

Right now green jobs employ about 109,000 people in Michigan, and that’s with 7.7% growth from 2005 to 2008. Considering the state’s population hovers somewhere around 10 million people, that’s a drop in the bucket.

The majority of those green jobs come from “. . . clean transportation and fuels . . .” according to WLNS News. Notably both of those segments still have strong ties back to the automotive industry, which makes what Ford and GM are doing with hybrid and electric cars that much more important.

Green Today, Jobs tomorrow, a conference held in Lansing, MI yesterday highlighted green jobs in Michigan and gave it a positive spin by discussing the efforts of colleges and universities to focus on skillsets students will be needing in the near future.

Governor Granholm has been a steadfast supporter of green, but sometimes her enthusiasm overshadows her discernment. She says “we don't know whether [green jobs will] replace lost manufacturing jobs but we do know that it will be a piece of the solution that will be very significant” according to WZZM News.

Green jobs have a presence in most industries, from agriculture to energy efficiency. Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor said “green jobs are about . . . creating renewable energy, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, helping to clean the environment and helping to provide for more conservation.”

In Michigan there is significant interest in repurposing its manufacturing facilities to build wind turbines and solar panels. That has potential to work well as long as banks make funding available to new businesses installing those solar panels and wind turbines.