By David R. Baker | The San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com Blog | Link to article
Politicians love to talk about the number of jobs a green economy can create. Jobs in solar installation, home energy retrofits and wind farm construction, to name a few.
But how do people get those gigs?
A report issued Thursday counted 298 green-job training programs in California, most of them created within the last five years. They train between 12,600 and 15,100 students per year — numbers that are probably too low, because the study’s authors couldn’t get complete enrollment data for most of the programs.
Community colleges and technical schools accounted for many of the programs. But some were offered by labor unions or community groups or private education companies.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve been hearing about this university, that organization, this labor union — everyone seemed to be doing some kind of program,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, co-author of the report and director of clean energy programs at the non-profit Environment California Research & Policy Center. “We wanted to count them up.”
The schools, unions, companies and organizations are trying to capitalize on one of the economy’s few recent bright spots. They’re also responding to the interest of students and people who want or need to change careers. (full article)
