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Counting Green Jobs: Developing the Green Technologies and Practices Survey

Keywords: green, employment, wages, occupations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, establishment survey

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is collecting and producing information on the occupational employment and wages of green jobs for the first time. BLS took two approaches for measuring green jobs: the output approach, which identifies establishments that produce green goods and services, and the process approach, which identifies establishments that use environmentally friendly processes and practices. For the process approach, BLS conducted a survey called the Green Technologies and Practices (GTP) Survey. The GTP Survey measures jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. The GTP Survey first identifies if the establishment uses green processes and practices and, if so, what workers they have, if any, whose duties are related to these processes and practices. The survey also asks the establishment to report the green process workers’ occupations and associated wages. This paper covers the development work that went into creating the survey methodology and survey instruments as well as the BLS experiences in collecting green data. The paper also features preliminary data results.