As of 2008, 5,025 different employers were offering 51,402 green jobs in Oregon, according to a report from WorkSource Oregon. Last year, the state's green workforce made up about 3 percent of its 1,686,524 private, state and local government jobs, which is almost equal to the number of employees working in private hospitals throughout the state.
The construction industry employed the largest number of workers in green jobs, at 17 percent, followed by wholesale and retail trade at 16 percent, administrative and waste services at 14 percent, natural resources and mining at 11 percent, professional and technical services at 11 percent and state and local government at 10 percent. Every other industry combined accounted for about 20 percent of green jobs.
Many green jobs require little to no educational experience. About 32 percent of green jobs cite no specific education requirements, while the same amount require a high school education. Only 18 percent require a bachelor's or graduate's degree, 7 percent require an associate or vocational degree, 7 percent require some college and 4 percent have another educational requirement.
On a bright note for workers, the estimated average hourly wage for a green job in 2008 was $22.61, which is higher than the average hourly wage for all jobs of $19.92. About 75 percent of green jobs in the state paid $15 or more.
Workers with management, architecture and engineering or business and financial occupations jobs tended to have the highest paying salaries. About 50 percent of workers with green jobs int he management occupation sector earned at least $50 per hour, while 99 percent of those with green jobs in the architecture and engineering sector earned at least $15 per hour.
Workers with green jobs in the food preparation and serving occupations earned the lowest salary, with 56 percent of employees earning less than $10 per hour and 89 percent of employees earning less than $15 per hour.
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