Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

During these long days of economic hardship, somewhere along the way the "Green jobs" industry has been anointed the Holy Grail of job growth; the savior of economic revitalization.

But really, green jobs have not served in much more than a feel-good, buzz-words capacity. Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University recently stated in this published op-ed in Forbes that "All told, green jobs constitute barely 700,000 positions across the country – less than 0.5% of total employment."

He goes on to say: "Indeed a recent study by Sam Sherraden at the center-left New America Foundation finds that, for the most part, green jobs constitute a negligible factor in employment – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

Don’t get me wrong; I am not opposed to solutions that improve our environment – I believe we must allow the free market to prevail in creating a truly robust green industry and oppose government intervention vis-à-vis mandates. Investors are scared off by government mandates and more turned on by incentives, Kotkin says.

“With the right tax advantages, energy efficiency could become a positive imperative for companies,” he adds.

I hope you enjoy the article.