Chicago’s Green Economy at a Glance: One-Page Briefs on Recent Reports
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The Green Economy represents the portion of the United States economy that is transitioning to cleaner, more sustainable practices. Made up of industries related to clean energy production, energy efficiency, and environmental management, the growing Green Economy provides an opportunity for equitable workforce development in the Chicago region.
As part of the Voorhees Center’s work as an EDA University Center, we’ve created a series of reports and tools on the Green Economy. Get a quick overview of this work with our easy-to-read one-page briefs below.
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Chicago Region’s Clean Energy Economy: Studying Changes Since 2011 explores changes in occupations classified as part of the green economy from 2011 to 2020 on regional, state, and national levels, and compares the green economy to the economy as a whole.
Digital Skills in the Green Economy in the Chicago Region explores digitization in the Green Economy, educational programs for popular software used for Green Economy occupations, and gaps where certain software education is lacking in the Chicago MSA region.
Green Economy Occupations in the Chicago Region and its associated one-pager tool summarize information on technologies, certifications, economic data, and the main tasks associated with the job for 264 Green Economy occupations in the Chicago region, capturing more than one million workers. It finds that these jobs are better paying and have lower educational barriers to entry, compared to the economy as a whole.
The Landscape of Green Infrastructure in the Chicago Region gives an overview of the existing green infrastructure economy in the Chicago region; outlines industry challenges and identifies strategies to address said challenges; and provides an analysis of growth and concentration of core occupations associated with green infrastructure work. It finds that more than half of green infrastructure-related occupations are growing and have a strong concentration in the Chicago metropolitan area.