Millennium Magazine_6th Ed

Green Jobs: A W In an eco-friendly world, one of the key issues confronting business and industry is how to define green jobs. Green jobs reduce the environmental impact of industrial and agricultural activities, ultimately to levels that are sustainable. This definition covers work that contributes to maintaining or restoring the quality of the environment. As time goes on and the transition to a green economy progresses, every job can potentially become greener. In an effort to track green jobs and trends, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) undertook an initiative in 2010. When the BLS began searching for a definition of green jobs, it found that there was no consistent classification system. Several categories of green jobs were almost universally recognized. These included producing energy from renewable resources, increasing energy efficiency, preventing and abating pollution and greenhouse gases, and conserving natural resources. However, there were other areas in which the green definition was not generally used. Two Approaches In determining whether jobs were green, the BLS decided to use two approaches. The output approach identified businesses that produced green goods and services and counted the associated jobs. The process approach identified industries that used environmentally friendly production processes and practices and counted the associated jobs. In the BLS data-gathering system, green jobs fall into one of these two categories. They can be jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources. They can also be jobs in which workers are responsible for making their workplaces’ production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. Overlap There is some overlap between the two categories, and the BLS admits it may be counting the same job twice in some instances. However, the definition established for the purpose of the bureau’s ongoing data-gathering is a reliable way to decide whether a job is green.