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Macomb, IL – Rural America's population is falling as fast as jobs are fading, but new studies about "clean jobs" find that such work could help restore employment in rural Illinois.
The population of non-metro areas of fewer than 50,000 people is down to 16% of the nation from more than 70% at the turn of the 20th century.
The Population Reference Bureau's Mark Mather told the Associated Press, "Many rural areas can't attract workers because there aren't any jobs, and businesses won't relocate there because there aren't enough qualified workers, so they are caught in a downward spiral."
But decent jobs and easily attainable qualifications could result from the US clean economy, according to the first study to provide timely and comprehensive information for leaders to act on the country's low-carbon and environmental goods and services "super-sector."
The authors of the Brookings Institution's Sizing the Clean Economy say there are about 2.7 million U.S. jobs in the "clean economy" - defined as the sector producing goods and services with an environmental benefit. That's more than both the fossil fuel and bioscience sectors. Jobs counted include those in solar photovoltaic, wind, fuel cells, wastewater, mass transit, smart grid, batteries, green chemical products, lighting and biofuels.
Brookings' profile of Illinois' experience with the clean economy shows that each clean economy job in Illinois produces almost $26,000 in exports, which ranks it 14th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The estimated median wage in Illinois' clean economy is $41,000 - 3% higher than the median for all jobs in the state.
In size, Illinois' clean economy ranks 5th nationally, with 106,000 clean-economy jobs - 1.8% of all jobs in the state. And between 2003 and 2010, Illinois added more than 20,000 clean jobs, placing the state 7th in the country. The fastest-growing segments last year were in Wind (553 new jobs) and Air & Water Purification Technologies (2,100).
That could mean, instead of grain elevators scattered throughout the area, rural landscapes could be dotted with pyrolysis plants - processing centers where farmers would bring bulky crops such as switchgrass to be made into biofuels. (Pyrolysis is a process using elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen to break down organic materials.)
That's according to another new study by South Dakota State University researchers working with the US Department of Agriculture.
South Dakota professor Tom Schumacher says, "Historically, the distributive nature of crop production gave rise to a network of grain elevators to separate and coordinate the flow of grain to the processing industry. A network of rail lines added new infrastructure to improve efficiency. A corollary to the grain elevator would be a collection point that would be within 10 to 30 miles of production fields" for plant biomass."
Brookings shows that the newer, "clean tech" segment has produced huge job gains and the clean economy outperformed the nation during the Great Recession. Also, the clean economy is manufacturing and export intensive, and offers more opportunities and better pay for low- and middle-skilled workers than the national economy. Median wages in the clean economy are 13% higher than median US wages.
Brookings' report recommends that governments can help by
* sparking the market by increasing domestic demand for low-carbon and environmentally-oriented goods and services,
* ensuring adequate finance,
* driving innovation by investing both more and differently in the clean economy,
* getting federal, state, and regional leaders to cooperate and focus on regions to play to their respective strengths.
Elsewhere, numerous nations, including China and the United Kingdom, are making new commitments to invest in the low-carbon and environmental-goods sector as a source of good jobs, exports and industry growth.
"What is most challenging here is the fundamental question raised by the dynamic growth but modest size of the most vibrant and promising segments of the clean economy," Muro says.
"That question is: Will the nation marshal the will to make the most of those industries?"
Bill Knight is a freelance writer who teaches at Western Illinois University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WIU or Tri States Public Radio