Green employment grows nearly 8% in the Mitten

You may have seen them before. Those commercials for Michigan where Jeff Daniels -- from the movie Dumber and Dumber -- says Detroit is pushing to become a "Green" peninsula. Well, a new study just came out stating that it might just be on its way as green jobs have been on the increase.

Excerpt:

According to the report, 41 percent of jobs are in clean transportation and fuels, followed by 23 percent in energy efficiency, 13 percent each in resource conservation and pollution prevention/environmental cleanup, and 9 percent in renewable energy production.

In the survey of private Michigan firms, a small sample of 358 companies found that those companies added more than 2,500 Michigan jobs from 2005 to 2008, a growth rate of 7.7 percent compared with an overall Michigan employment decline of 5.4 percent during the same period.

Of the jobs created within the sample, nearly 1,900 came from firms in renewable energy production, such as wind and solar energy-related manufacturing and installation.

Among the sample firms, about 70 companies appeared to have been created since 2005 and they added 600 jobs, "a much higher rate of startups than is seen in the overall economy," the report said.

The report found that 13 of the top 15 industries in terms of green jobs paid more than the private sector’s average $811 weekly wage, and 10 of those industries paid at least $100 per week more.

Read the entire article here.