Friday, July 26, 2013

Green Jobs: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. President

In his speech at Knox College, President Obama laid out his plan for the Detroitification of America: higher taxes, higher spending, increased minimum wages, more mandates, and rerouting the path of upward mobility through tried-and-failed social programs.
He blames unfettered markets for taking America away from the halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s, ignoring the phenomenal growth of taxes, spending, and regulation since then. His promise for more of the same makes you wonder if his teleprompter has been inverting his charts and tables.
However, in his depressing litany, he provided some comic relief by repeating the old green jobs joke that more expensive energy creates jobs. The punch line has been provided (repeatedly) by his own Administration’s Department of Labor. In a series of green jobs reports—which was mercifully ended by sequestration after only two reports—the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published tables that provide mirth beyond measure in the form of comical comparisons.
We have discussed those reports herehere, and here. A couple of points from those analyses illustrate the inanity of the reports’ conclusions:
  • The BLS found 33 times as many green jobs in the septic tank and portable toilet servicing industry as in solar electricity utilities.
  • The BLS determined that there were more green jobs collecting trash (not processing but simply collecting) than in either architectural services or engineering services

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