Robert Pollin, UMass Amherst economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, was featured in the story, Is Obama’s Bet On Green Jobs Risky? on 90.9 wbur, Boston’s NPR news station. The story notes that clean energy projects as a whole have received approximately $95 billion in funding and questions whether this is a risky investment. While there is uncertainty as to what the next big economic growth sector will be, there is reason to be optimistic about investing in clean energy. According to Pollin, who was hired by the Commerce Department to run the numbers, the government’s stimulus program on green activities yields approximately 17 jobs per $1 million of expenditure. This compares favorably to military spending which creates about 11 jobs per $1 million and to the oil and gas industry which produces about 5 jobs per $1 million of expenditure. Pollin notes that the payoff is higher because kick-starting a new industry requires more manpower. “There’s way more jobs in clean energy because essentially there’s a lot more construction jobs, there’s a lot more manufacturing jobs, there’s a lot more transportation jobs,” he said. “So it’s really the process of building the new industry that makes it a good generator of jobs.” (NPR, June 13, 2011)
