Maryland Leading the Region’s Green Economy Growth

by Michael Raia, Director of Communications, Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation

Workers install solar panels at a home in Howard County. (Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor).

Maryland is a Green Economy leader. According to a new report released earlier this week by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Collaborative (MARC) – a partnership between Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. – Maryland has the most per capita green jobs in the Capital Region.

And that means big business – especially in Maryland.

The MARC report, the most exhaustive and most current analysis of green jobs in the region, estimates that the region’s Green Economy employs at least 235,600 workers and contributes more than $35 billion to the gross regional product (GRP) – including $16.3 billion in Maryland. Industry analysts expect the number of Green Economy jobs to grow by 12 percent before 2013, which will generate an additional $600 million for Maryland’s economy and $1.9 billion for the MARC region.

Despite the incredible economic opportunity, green employers across the region have identified gaps between the open positions and the skills of potential workers. To reduce that gap, the Maryland Department of Labor (DLLR), with support from the O’Malley-Brown administration and local governments across the state, has invested in a range of programs and curricula to develop a workforce pipeline for the Green Economy.

The Maryland Department of Labor administers a grant program that will help prepare more than 1,500 Marylanders for green jobs in manufacturing, construction, environmental technology and solar energy.

DLLR administers the state’s Go Solar! program, funding for which is provided by the Maryland Energy Sector Partnership grant. All told, this $5.8 million DOL grant will help prepare more than 1,500 Marylanders for green jobs in manufacturing, construction, environmental technology and solar energy. Grant funding is divided into four key areas:

• The Baltimore Regional Green Tech Workers Program is improving manufacturing sustainability practices, waste stream management and “lean to green” practices in the manufacturing sector and provide training for 705 incumbent and new workers.
• Green Training for Energy Efficient Advancement will train 850 workers to retrofit residential, commercial and industrial buildings to meet demands due to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) movements and increased energy initiatives of major utilities to comply with the Empower Maryland legislation.
• Chesapeake Area Consortium for Higher Education (CACHE): Institute for Environmental Careers will help 210 students earn community college certificates in environmental technology.
• Go Solar! Regional Partnership will utilize existing renewable energy curriculum, mostly from the Institute for Environmental Careers’ existing courses and provide training for 480 new and incumbent workers.

These green job training programs also support the Skills2Compete Maryland initiative – a collaborative effort to expand skills training and continuing education by 20 percent by 2012 – which is led by Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown and administered by the GWIB.

Once we train workers, though, we need to do more to help connect them with opportunities in the Green Economy. With that in mind, in partnership with Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. and through funding administered by the Maryland Department of Labor, MARC launched the Green Works Jobs Portal, the nation’s first multi-state, real-time green jobs identification and collection mechanism with a geographic interface. The portal provides free job search and recruitment tools for jobseekers and employers across the MARC region. Unlike conventional job boards, www.marcgreenworks.com generates updated green job postings every 24 hours to ensure the quality of postings provided. Through the use of “web spidering” for jobs based on keywords, the portal delivers postings from each jurisdiction’s online labor exchange as well as public and private job boards and company websites. Job seeker services include job postings, job market trends, career information and job market exploration tools, including area, occupation and industry profiles and labor market facts. The portal also provides resume search tools for employers.

Governor Martin O’Malley set an ambitious goal to create 100,000 green jobs in Maryland by 2015. Because of Maryland’s educated, skilled and motivated workforce, we are well on our way and will develop a national model for success in the Green Economy.