New reports chart Ohio’s push toward ‘green’ jobs
Athens News – Over the past several years, the state of Ohio has been making a push in the area of so-called “green” manufacturing, and while visiting Athens recently U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said that Ohio is now the second-leading solar manufacturing state in country.
And now, Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs recently has published a section on education for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ “Green Jobs Report,” the most ambitious analysis to date of Ohio’s push toward green-energy manufacturing. It is made up of four sections, including obstacles and opportunities, exploring the potential for green jobs, small-employer analysis, and education and training programs.
The Voinovich school prepared the “Education and Training Programs” section of the report, which explores such programs within the University System of Ohio (USO) that prepare students for green jobs.
According to project manager Zachary Holl, these reports will help to more clearly define “green” professions. “Among the general population, the definition of a ‘green job’ is unclear to a lot of folks,” he said in a release from the university. “Hopefully, this report will help those that are interested to get a better understanding of what is a green job.”
He said that from an educational and training perspective, the report is practical because it helps people to relate education and training programs to the types of jobs that those programs can prepare people for in the green economy.
