Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Green Jobs Don't Create Jobs -- They Destroy Them

In President Obama's speech yesterday, he spoke of the model of creating "green" jobs in Spain as an example of a model to follow. However, a Spanish economist just released a study of the "green jobs" created in Spain that indicated the following:

  • For each "green" job created, 2.2 jobs were destroyed in the greater economy. That means that for every 4 jobs created, 9 are eliminated! (One step forward, two steps back! Ouch!) Talk about a bad investment!
  • The "green" jobs that were created were of a temporary nature.
  • Only 10% of "green" jobs were permanent ones.
  • Each "green" job created required an investment cost of more than $700,000 -- each!
Sounds like green jobs don't create much green in anyone's pocket!