New reports chart Ohio's push toward 'green' jobs

Over the past several years, the state of Ohio has been making a push in the area of so-called "green" manufacturing, and while visiting Athens recently U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said that Ohio is now the second-leading solar manufacturing state in country.

And now, Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs recently has published a section on education for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' "Green Jobs Report," the most ambitious analysis to date of Ohio's push toward green-energy manufacturing. It is made up of four sections, including obstacles and opportunities, exploring the potential for green jobs, small-employer analysis, and education and training programs.

The Voinovich school prepared the "Education and Training Programs" section of the report, which explores such programs within the University System of Ohio (USO) that prepare students for green jobs.

According to project manager Zachary Holl, these reports will help to more clearly define "green" professions. "Among the general population, the definition of a 'green job' is unclear to a lot of folks," he said in a release from the university. "Hopefully, this report will help those that are interested to get a better understanding of what is a green job."

He said that from an educational and training perspective, the report is practical because it helps people to relate education and training programs to the types of jobs that those programs can prepare people for in the green economy.

As a complement to the reports, the Voinovich School developed a database that the state is now reportedly using to provide online information on more than 1,300 green jobs-related programs at four-year universities, two-year colleges and adult career centers within the USO.

The career exploration tool, established by the ODJ&FS, provides information for individuals who are looking for jobs or considering career changes. Meanwhile, a new "Ohio Green Pathways" website, established by the Ohio Board of Regents, helps users understand what green jobs-related programs are available within the USO and what types of green occupations each program may prepare students for.

Senior Project Manager Sara Boyd said in a release that employers, education professionals, students seeking education, and job seekers will all be able to utilize the sites to find "information on employment and educational opportunities in the green economy as well as the best practices among programs."

The Voinovich School's report, titled "Green Jobs and the Ohio Economy Part 4: Education and Training Programs," focuses on USO programs relating to six sectors of Ohio's green economy: renewable energy, energy efficiency, manufacturing, advanced energy, bioscience, green building and agriculture/biomass.

To prepare the report, Voinovich School researchers conducted a review of exemplary green jobs-related training programs nationally and identified best practices among these programs. Researchers then conducted a survey of educators in order to assess implementation of these best practices among green jobs-related programs in the USO.

The survey found that each of the best practices is being implemented among a majority of the 269 responding programs. In addition to the survey results, the report provides over 30 case studies of green jobs-related programs nationally and in Ohio.

It focuses on a number of sectors of Ohio's green economy, including renewable energy, advanced energy, energy efficiency, bioscience, manufacturing, agriculture and green building.

In the study, Ohio educators were surveyed about the creation of education programs related to green energy. When asked if a program was created in response to employer requests for education and training in that field, 59.3 percent responded in the affirmative. When asked if the program was created in response to a perceived current need in the labor market, 64 percent said yes, while when asked if it was a future need, 51.9 percent said yes. Only 6.9 percent said a green job training program had been in place for many years, and only 2.2 percent said a program was created because of increased funding for such programs.