A new analysis finds that Green jobs need to be created at 25 times the current rate if the Government is to meet its target of 440,000 new jobs in green industries by 2030.
According to new research by global job site Indeed, “green job” vacancies are growing but much more will need to be done in order to meet Government-set targets.
Between January 2016 and October 2021, the share of green job vacancies has increased by 13 per cent.
Despite this shift, ultimately the proportion of jobs remains low at around 2,000 green roles per million job postings (0.2 per cent).
As such, the study estimates new green jobs need to be created at approximately 25 times the current pace if the UK is to meet the Government’s target by the end of the decade.
This comes amid significant strides to make the UK more eco-friendly including aiming to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050 and halting the sale of gas boilers by 2035.
Analysing the job postings, the study found that the most common green job vacancies this year are for recycling workers, representing close to a fifth (19 per cent) of all green job postings on the platform.
However, similarly in demand were environmental managers (constituting 15 per cent of job postings) and ecologists at 10 per cent.
In addition, the study further found that salaries for these roles are considerably varied, lacking consistency across the board.
The median £18,720 pay for recycling workers is significantly lower than the UK average full-time annual salary of £31,000.
Environmental managers, with an average salary of £37,500, and sustainability consultants (£42,500) are relatively well-paid roles in comparison, while other common green jobs tend to pay close to or below the UK average.
Focussing on regional levels, the North East of England and Wales were shown to have the highest concentration of green jobs.
The North East had 2,395 green jobs per million job postings whilst Wales had 2,114. This is relatively in line with findings from the Social Market Foundation which showed that the aforementioned locations were the best places to create green jobs, partly due to the existing skills base in post-industrial regions.
Jack Kennedy, UK Economist at Indeed, stated:
There’s near unanimous agreement on the need to stimulate the green economy, but our data suggests it has not yet translated into the hoped-for surge in green job creation.
The Government has announced several initiatives to enable the UK to transition to net zero, but with many of the most in-demand green jobs being specialist positions, policymakers will also need to consider training programmes to help workers gain the necessary skills.
Many employers have been keen to state their own environmental goals and they too will bear some of the responsibility to train and re-skill workers as they switch from ‘dirty’ to clean energy.
*Indeed analysed the share of green job postings per million job postings from 1 Jan 2016 to 8 October 2021 to obtain these results which increased from 1,774 jobs per million to 2,004 across the period.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
