A recent study in Spain showed that for every “green job” created by the Spanish government through subsidies, 2.2 jobs were destroyed elsewhere in the economy. The reason, as explained in the study, is because the re-allocation of resources to “green jobs” was centrally directed rather than rationally, as in a market economy.
These results are not unique to Spain. In Italy, the losses were worse. Each “green job” created cost 4.6 jobs across the entire economy. It is this Spanish/European-style green jobs agenda that is being pushed so heavily in the United States, both at the federal level and right here in Texas.
These findings mirror those found by our study on the impact of climate change legislation and economic growth, which showed a direct correlation between energy use and gross domestic product. Any policy that increases energy prices effectively decreases growth.
One does not have to be an economist to figure out that if each “green job” costs more jobs than it creates, then “going green” is not the answer to pull out of the recession. Although Texas has fared better than most states in terms of unemployed workers, pushing green jobs here will weaken-not strengthen-the job market.
– Ryan Brannan