In a report published by CBS (Statistics Netherlands) last week, there is a growth in jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
In 2017, a total of 150,000 energy related full-time jobs were reported in the Netherlands. Of these, 54,000 full-time jobs were related to renewable energy and energy effiency and 64,000 to conventional energy. The remaining included, for example, jobs related to the installation and maintenance of the electricity network. With the exception of 2011, this renewable energy sector saw a continuous growth. In 2017 there were 64,000 jobs in conventional energy, against 35,000 in 2008.
For the purpose of this study, CBS converted all types of jobs to full-time jobs. The jobs relate to both the exploitation of energy sources and to the jobs needed to realise the investments made in energy projects, such as the development and installation of wind farms.
Most of the jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency are related to investments, in 2017, 51,000 full-time jobs. Since 2015, the employment related to investments in renewable energy and energy efficiecy has surpassed that of conventional energy. After 2014 there were less investments made in conventional energy. Within renewable energy investment related employment, a shift has taken place from biomass (biomass including biogas and other forms of energy together with wind energy were responsible for the main share in employment in 2008) to other renewable energy sources. Employment resulting from investments in solar energy showed the biggest growth, from 2,300 full-time jobs in 2008 to almost 7,000 in 2016. In the case of wind energy, there were 4,200 jobs in 2016. These were merely to be found in the offshore wind sector.
When it comes to jobs related to the exploitation of energy, the report showed dominance by the conventional energies, with 32,000 out of the total of 35,000 jobs in 2017. However, the exploitation of conventional energy sources are showing a decline in jobs while the jobs related to the exploitation of renewable energy sources are growing, from 1,800 in 2008 to 3,100 in 2017. Solar again showed the strongest growth.
