Promising Green Jobs for Rural Illinois Covered in New IIRA Report

May 20, 2010
By Timothy Collins, IIRA Assistant Director

MACOMB, IL — Illinois is poised to take advantage of some sectors of the new green economy, according to a recent Rural Research Report from the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs. The report, “Which Green Jobs Look Promising for Rural Illinois?” defines green jobs and suggests opportunities that are easily within the grasp of Illinois communities because many of the necessary skills for these positions are already available in the workforce. Authors John Gruidl and Ilya Markov, both from the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, conclude that rural Illinois is well positioned to capture many green jobs, particularly in the construction and agricultural sectors.

According to the report, green jobs are associated with green products or services that use resources more efficiently, provide renewable sources of energy, lower greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise minimize environmental impacts of human activities. The overwhelming majority of green jobs are in occupations that many people already work in today.

For example, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings requires construction managers, roofers and heating/air conditioning installers. Manufacturing wind turbines requires machinists, sheet metal workers and truck drivers. Producing new crops for bio-fuels requires farmers, truck drivers and farm-product suppliers. In addition, all these industries require support activities performed by lawyers, accountants, office clerks and salespeople.

Three green sectors seem particularly well suited to rural Illinois:building retrofittingwind poweradvanced bio-fuelsRural Illinois has basic locational characteristics required for businesses to succeed in these industries, including a skilled workforce for building retrofitting, sites with sufficient wind speed and wind power, as well as fertile and abundant agricultural land for growing biomass for bio-fuels.

Green jobs span a variety of skills and educational backgrounds. But many of these jobs are “mid-skilled” jobs that require education past high school but not a college degree. Green jobs in engineering and construction will be modifications to existing jobs, likely requiring learning new skills and methods. Community colleges and universities in rural regions can change training programs, in such fields as construction and engineering, to incorporate green technologies and techniques.

Furthermore, the greening of the economy will provide entrepreneurial opportunities, such as auditing the energy efficiency of buildings and designing and installing new green products to reduce energy consumption.

In the long run, greening the economy could benefit small towns in Illinois. Young people often move from their hometowns because of limited job opportunities. By expanding rural employment in construction and agriculture, among other fields, the green economy may enable more young people to remain or return to their rural communities.

You can obtain a copy of the report by contacting IIRA at the phone number below or download the report (PDF file) from our website at www.iira.org/pubs/publications/IIRA_RRR_711.pdf.

Western Illinois University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity institution. For more information about the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, see www.IIRA.org. If you care to comment about this column, contact Collins at (800) 526-9943 or T-Collins@wiu.edu.

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