Green-Collar Jobs

As business, government, and the community have sought to address a growing list of environmental issues, their efforts have created a new kind of work. Employment has traditionally been divided between the categories of “blue collar” (i.e., laboring) and “white collar” (i.e., administration). “Green collar” is a new category that has been created to describe laboring, semi-skilled, and trade jobs that contribute to improvements in environmental quality. These can be found in many sectors of the economy, for example, laborers reforesting a degraded landscape, farmers growing organic food, waste sorters in a recycling facility, builders of ecoefficient homes, pollution-reduction technicians, and many others.