US Solar Industry a Success Story

Solar jobs in America increased at a "historic" pace in 2016 on "unprecedented" consumer demand as the cost of solar panels declined, according to The Solar Foundation's National Solar Jobs Census 2016. The report – now in its seventh edition – found that the solar industry accounted for 2% of all jobs created in the US over the past year, with solar jobs increasing in 44 of the 50 states, CNBC reported. As of November 2016, 260,077 solar workers were employed by the industry, "representing a growth rate of 24.5% since November 2015." Over the 12 month period, the solar industry was responsible for more than one in every 50 new jobs created in the US. "With a near tripling of solar jobs since 2010, the solar industry is an American success story that has created hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs," Andrea Luecke, president and executive director of The Solar Foundation, said in a statement.