Retraining America's workforce
With the national unemployment rate continuing to trudge upward and dismal economic news stealing the headlines daily, a record number of Americans are deciding to hit the books. Post-secondary education is luring thousands of laid-off workers with the promise of readying them for jobs in the highly touted “green” jobs sector.
Students study green biodiesel.
With the national unemployment rate continuing to trudge upward and dismal economic news stealing the headlines daily, a record number of Americans are deciding to hit the books. Post-secondary education is luring thousands of laid-off workers with the promise of readying them for jobs in the highly touted “green” jobs sector.
The global environmental goods and services sector is expected to
double by 2020 to become a $2.7 billion market, according to a 2008
United Nations Environment Programme study. And the U.S. Department of
Labor estimates that in the next 10 years, the construction industry
alone must recruit and train almost 250,000 workers annually to meet
demand—a figure that doesn’t include new jobs created by retrofitting
and weatherizing existing buildings.
