Catherwood LibraryILR School

A recently released study by David Roland-Holst, an economist at the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at UC Berkeley, found that California?s energy-efficient policies, begun in 1977, had a positive effect on state employment. The state?s policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs during the period 1977-2007 and cut only about 25,000. The study found that although the policies lowered energy-sector employee compensation by about $1.6 billion, it improved state-wide compensation by some $44.6 billion. This increase is largely due to reduced consumer spending on energy, which allows people to divert more money to other industries. Jobs were created in retail, wholesale, agriculture and insurance sectors. Although some fear that new energy policies nationwide could represent high costs, the energy sector also has huge potential for creating new jobs.