The claim that solar development is destroying U.S. jobs in favor of overseas manufacturing is inaccurate. In reality, the renewable energy sector, particularly solar, has become a significant driver of U.S. job creation, far surpassing fossil fuel industries.(1)The solar industry in the U.S. supported approximately 346,000 jobs as of 2022, with the majority in construction and manufacturing. These jobs are domestic, with around 65% in project development and 6% in operations and maintenance, making them unlikely to be outsourced.(2) Additionally, the solar sector creates more jobs per unit of energy than fossil fuels like natural gas.(4)In states like Kentucky, clean energy jobs, including solar, now outnumber coal mining jobs by a ratio of 8:1. Nationally, there are 5.4 times more jobs in solar than in coal and 1.78 times more jobs in solar than in coal, gas, and oil generation combined.(2)(5) Federal policies, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, have accelerated job growth in the solar industry, with over $60 billion allocated to clean energy manufacturing.(2)
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