Comment Request, 12571-12573 [2010-5705]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Labor Statistics Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12571-12573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5705]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Comment Request

AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, DOL.

ACTION: Notice of solicitation of comments.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is responsible for 
developing and implementing the collection of new data on green jobs. 
The resulting information will assist policymakers in planning policy 
initiatives and understanding their impact on the labor market, and 
will facilitate the monitoring of labor market developments related to 
protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. BLS 
activities also will be useful to State labor market information 
offices in their efforts to meet the need for information for State 
policymakers, businesses, and job seekers.
    BLS is currently soliciting comments on the definition BLS will use 
in measuring green jobs, the industry list, or any other aspect of the 
information provided in this Notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice on or before April 30, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Richard Clayton, Office of Industry 
Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4840, 2 
Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Washington, DC 20212 or by e-mail to: 
green@bls.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Clayton, Office of Industry 
Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, telephone number 
202-691-5185 (this is not a toll-free number), or by e-mail to: 
green@bls.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    BLS is responsible for developing and implementing the collection 
of new data on green jobs. The goal is to develop information on: (1) 
The number of and trend over time in green jobs, (2) the industrial, 
occupational, and geographic distribution of the jobs, and (3) the 
wages of the workers in these jobs.
    The resulting information will assist policymakers in planning 
policy initiatives and understanding their impact on the labor market, 
and will facilitate the monitoring of labor market developments related 
to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. BLS 
activities also will be useful to State labor market information 
offices in their efforts to meet the need for information for State 
policymakers, businesses, and job seekers.
    There is no widely accepted standard definition of ``green jobs.'' 
While this topic is of interest across government, academia, and the 
business community, various studies define the term differently. BLS 
reviewed a wide range of studies, including several surveys conducted 
by State Workforce Agencies and work conducted internationally. BLS 
also consulted with a variety of stakeholders, including Federal 
agencies, the State labor market information offices, and industry 
groups. The common thread through the studies and discussions is that 
green jobs are jobs related to preserving or restoring the environment. 
Several categories of green economic activity are nearly universally 
cited: renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention and 
clean-up, and natural resources conservation.
    The studies reviewed showed that neither of the standard 
classification systems used in BLS data, the North American Industry 
Classification System (NAICS) and the Standard Occupational 
Classification (SOC), identifies a green or environmental grouping of 
industries or occupations.
    In response to the challenge of defining green jobs, BLS has 
adopted the approach of identifying environmental economic activity and 
counting the associated jobs. These jobs will be found across a range 
of industries and occupations.
    BLS plans to use two approaches in identifying environmental 
economic activity and measuring associated jobs: (1) The output 
approach, which identifies establishments that produce green goods and 
services and counts the associated jobs, and (2) the process approach, 
which identifies establishments that use environmentally-friendly 
production processes and practices and counts the associated jobs.
    In the output approach, BLS is concerned with jobs related to 
producing a specific set of goods and services, and is not concerned 
with the environmental impact of the production process. The output 
approach alone, however, would not cover some activities and associated 
jobs that favorably impact the environment although the product or 
service produced is itself not ``green.'' The process approach is 
intended to address this aspect of green jobs. In the process approach, 
BLS is concerned with whether the production process has a favorable 
impact on the environment, but not with what good or service is 
produced. The process approach is

[[Page 12572]]

relevant to any industry. Each approach requires different measurement 
strategies and will tend to count different jobs, with some overlap in 
industries that produce green goods and services.

II. Defining and Identifying Green Goods and Services

    BLS has worked toward a definition that is objective and 
empirically measurable. In addition, because BLS data about jobs are 
categorized and described according to industry (product or service 
produced) and occupation (type of work performed), the development and 
presentation of information on jobs related to green economic activity 
will be based on NAICS and SOC. Using these standard classifications 
will allow comparison of green jobs data with existing measures of 
employment and wages that are based on NAICS or SOC, as well as meet 
Office of Management and Budget statistical standards. Within NAICS, 
BLS may develop information for more detailed subcategories.
    The Bureau's definition of green jobs is based on economic 
activity, and does not consider job aspects unrelated to the work 
itself, such as wages, union membership, benefits, or career ladders. 
However, BLS will produce data on occupational wages; data users may 
supplement the BLS green jobs data with data from other sources. 
Further, because some data users may make different choices about which 
goods and services they prefer to include or exclude from ``green,'' 
BLS intends to present results by industry, allowing users to choose 
those industries needed for their purposes.
    In specifying green goods and services, BLS has identified whether 
a good or service has a discernible positive impact on the environment 
or natural resources conservation. Some goods and services may have 
both a positive and a negative impact. BLS has not attempted to assess 
the net impact.
    Defining green jobs. Broadly defined, green jobs are jobs involved 
in economic activities that help protect or restore the environment or 
conserve natural resources. These economic activities generally fall 
into the following categories:
    1. Renewable energy. Research on and development, production, 
storage, and distribution of energy (electricity, heat, and fuel) from 
renewable sources, including hydropower, wind, biomass (including 
biofuels and biogas), geothermal, solar energy, tidal energy, hydrogen 
fuel cells, and other renewable sources.
    2. Energy efficiency. Research on and development and 
implementation of energy conservation technologies and practices, 
including production of energy efficient products, cogeneration, and 
increasing the energy efficiency of production processes, distribution, 
construction, installation, and maintenance.
    3. Greenhouse gas reduction. Research on and development and 
implementation of technologies and practices to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions through approaches other than renewable energy generation and 
energy conservation. Includes generation of electricity from nuclear 
sources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in electricity 
generation from fossil fuels.
    4. Pollution reduction and cleanup. Research on and development and 
implementation of technologies and practices to reduce the emission of 
pollutants and remove pollutants and hazardous waste from the 
environment.
    5. Recycling and waste reduction. Research on and development and 
implementation of technologies and practices to collect and recycle 
materials and waste water.
    6. Agricultural and natural resources conservation. Research on and 
development and implementation of technologies and practices to reduce 
the environmental impact of agricultural production and improve natural 
resources conservation, including reducing use of chemical fertilizers 
and pesticides, soil and water conservation, sustainable forestry, land 
management, and wildlife conservation.
    7. Education, compliance, public awareness, and training. 
Activities to increase public awareness of environmental issues; 
activities to develop and enforce environmental regulations; and 
providing training in the application of ``green'' technologies and 
practices.
    These economic activities result in the production of green goods 
and services. BLS has defined these to include four types:
    1. Direct green goods and services. A good or service that is 
produced specifically for the purpose of protecting or restoring the 
environment or conserving natural resources. (Examples include 
pollution control equipment and weatherizing buildings.)
    2. Indirect green goods and services. Selected goods and services 
not included in 1 above that are produced for another purpose, but when 
produced, consumed, or scrapped have a favorable impact on protecting 
the environment or conserving natural resources relative to other goods 
or services generally used for the same purpose. (Examples include 
electricity produced from renewable sources, non-polluting dry cleaning 
services, hybrid vehicles, and mercury-free batteries.)
    BLS is considering using Federal product ratings or standards, 
where they exist, to determine which goods and services to include in 
this category. Such standards will be used to provide an objective 
method to distinguish green goods and services from other goods or 
services generally used for the same purpose. These standards will also 
help BLS clearly communicate to respondents what goods and services 
they produce that should be reported on the planned survey, and to 
communicate to data users what products and services are represented in 
the resulting data on associated jobs. Examples of such Federal 
standards include USDA Certified Organic and Energy Star. Well 
established and widely recognized industry standards also may be used, 
to the extent they are objective and empirically measurable. An example 
of such an industry standard is the Leadership in Energy and 
Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. A potential 
limitation of using these types of labeling programs is that they are 
voluntary and some employers may not participate although they may in 
fact meet the standards.
    Indirect green goods include goods containing recycled inputs, such 
as primary metals containing scrap inputs, and remanufactured goods, 
such as retreaded tires. Goods containing recycled inputs are generally 
limited to those produced at the stage where the recycled input is 
introduced. (For example, steel containing scrap input is included as a 
green good, but hand tools made from such steel are not included.)
    Indirect green goods also include organic agricultural products and 
processed organic products that carry the USDA Certified Organic 
designation. (Examples include organic produce and canned organic 
vegetables.)
    3. Specialized inputs. A good or service that is a specialized 
input to production of a direct or indirect green good or service 
included in categories 1 or 2 above. (Examples include USDA-approved 
fertilizers for organic crops, wind turbine blades, and mass transit 
rail cars.)
    4. Distribution of green goods. Services that specialize in 
distributing green goods included in categories 1, 2, or 3 above, 
including: (a) Transportation and warehousing services, (b) wholesale 
and retail trade services, (c) rental and leasing services, and (d) 
restaurants and food services.

[[Page 12573]]

    Measuring jobs associated with producing green goods and services. 
To implement the output approach, BLS plans to collect data on jobs 
associated with producing green goods and services (GGS) through a 
sample survey of establishments identified as potentially producing 
such products and services based on their NAICS classification. The 
purpose of the survey will be to identify whether the establishment is 
producing any green goods and services and, if so, to measure the 
number of associated jobs in the establishment.
    If a business establishment produces a single good or service, and 
if the good or service is included in the BLS definition, all 
employment at that establishment will be counted towards the green job 
total, including production, management, and administrative staff. For 
establishments that produce more than one good or service, BLS proposes 
to capture the share of establishment revenue (an alternative will be 
used for non-market sectors) received from the sale of green goods and 
services. BLS would use the revenue share as a proxy for the share of 
the establishment's employment associated with the production of green 
goods and services. BLS research to date indicates businesses are 
unlikely to be able to report shares of employment related to the green 
good or service and that revenue share will be a reasonable proxy. BLS 
will attempt to confirm this during field tests of the GGS survey 
forms.
    Identifying industries that produce green goods and services. BLS 
has reviewed the NAICS and identified detailed (6-digit) industries 
where green goods and services are classified. Industries on the list 
accounted for about 4.0 million establishments in the first quarter of 
2009. This industry list will constitute the scope for the GGS industry 
survey; the sample survey will estimate the number of jobs in 
establishments in these industries that actually produce green goods 
and services. The list may be accessed at https://www.bls.gov/green.
    Note that the proposed BLS methodology will estimate green jobs for 
a NAICS industry by summing the green jobs found at individual 
establishments classified within the industry. The methodology does not 
simply designate an industry as ``green'' and count all jobs in that 
industry as green jobs, since establishments in the industry may also 
produce goods and services that are not considered green outputs.
    In addition to the number of jobs by industry associated with GGS 
production, BLS will estimate the occupational employment and wages for 
establishments identified as producing green goods and services. These 
estimates will be based on data collected from establishments in the 
GGS industry survey through the Occupational Employment Statistics 
(OES) program. The OES survey sample will be supplemented as needed.

III. Defining and Identifying Environmentally-Friendly Production 
Processes

    For the process approach, BLS will develop a special employer 
survey to test the feasibility of collecting data on jobs associated 
with use of environmentally-friendly production processes. 
Environmentally-friendly production processes and practices are those 
that reduce the environmental or natural resources impact resulting 
from production of any good or service. These production processes 
include (1) production of green goods and services for use within the 
establishment, and (2) use of methods, procedures, or practices during 
the production of goods and services that have a positive environmental 
or natural resources conservation impact.
    Examples of environmentally-friendly processes and practices 
include generating solar power for use within a retail establishment, 
using hybrid vehicles to transport employees, redesigning product 
packaging to reduce the use of plastics, and collecting and recycling 
waste created during a manufacturing process.
    In the special employer survey, BLS proposes to identify whether 
the establishment uses environmentally-friendly productions processes 
and, if so, whether it employs any workers whose primary duties are 
related to those processes. Such workers may be performing a variety of 
activities, such as:
     Conducting research and development of processes to 
conserve energy or natural resources or to reduce pollution (for 
example, a chemical engineer who develops a chemical manufacturing 
process that results in lower air pollution emissions),
     Planning, implementing, and monitoring of these processes 
(for example, a worker who operates renewable energy generation 
equipment to produce electricity for use within the establishment),
     Maintaining or installing equipment or infrastructure 
associated with the processes (for example, a control valve installer 
in a manufacturing plant who installs systems that reduce water 
pollution emissions), and
     Measuring and controlling outputs of the process (for 
example, a chemical technician who tests air samples for pollution 
emissions levels).
    When development of the process approach nears completion, BLS 
plans to publish a Federal Register Notice presenting the concepts for 
comment.

IV. Desired Focus of Comments

    Comments and recommendations are requested from the public on the 
definition, industry list, or any other aspect of the information 
provided in this Notice. The concepts, methods, and definitions 
described here may change based on input from the public and experience 
gained in data collection.
    BLS is especially interested in comments on:
    1. The composition of the set of seven economic activities in which 
green jobs are involved.
    2. The composition of the set of four types of green goods and 
services, including:
     Whether the distribution of green goods should be included 
as green services. Distribution encompasses certain detailed industries 
in the following NAICS sectors: Transportation and Warehousing, 
Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing.
     Whether the preparation and sale of organic food by 
restaurants and food service industries should be included as green 
services. This inclusion brings Accommodation and Food Services 
industries such as restaurants, caterers, and cafeterias into scope.
    3. The apportioning of employment at establishments producing green 
and non-green outputs into green and non-green jobs using revenue 
share.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 11th day of March 2010.
Kimberley Hill,
Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor 
Statistics.
[FR Doc. 2010-5705 Filed 3-15-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P