Last year, the solar industry employed many more Americans than coal, while wind power topped 100,000 jobs. More than 373,000 Americans worked part or full time in solar energy, and just over 260,000 of them – or about 70 percent – spent a majority of their time on solar projects. Most solar energy jobs were in installation, construction and manufacturing, as the relatively new industry continued to add capacity. California, a state with robust renewable energy standards and installation incentives, had the highest rate of solar power jobs per capita last year. Though supporting fewer total jobs, the coal industry still employed an outsize share of workers in two states: Wyoming and West Virginia.

Source: New York Times April 25, 2017 09:01 UTC