Do Green Jobs Differ from Non-Green Jobs in Terms of Skills and Human Capital?

Abstract

This paper elaborates an empirical analysis of labour force characteristics that emerge as a response to the growing importance of environmental sustainability. Using data on the United States we compare green and non-green occupations to detect differences in terms of skill content and of human capital. Our empirical profiling reveals that green jobs use more intensively high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills compared to non-green jobs. Green occupations also exhibit higher levels of standard dimensions of human capital such as formal education, work experience and on-the-job training. While preliminary, our exploratory exercise seeks to call attention to an underdeveloped theme, namely the labour market implications associated with the transition towards green growth.