Where have all the green jobs gone?

From the BBC:

When the financial crisis first hit about 18 months ago, many politicians claimed "green jobs" would be the answer to reviving economic growth.

In January, President Obama pledged to create 17,000 green jobs - those linked to new environmentally friendly technologies.

In the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said new off-shore wind turbines could create 70,000 jobs.

So what has happened to the green job bonanza?

It turns out plenty of jobs have been created, just not exactly where you would think.

Biggest off-shore wind farm

Looking out to sea from the wall of Ramsgate harbour on England's south east coast, you can just see the huge towers and arms of wind turbines planted in the English Channel.

This is the Thanet off-shore wind farm. When it becomes operational later this year it will be the largest in the world.

But only for a few months - until the next big project is completed.

Because this is just one of a huge number of wind farms being constructed in UK waters.

Coastal lifeline?

For coastal towns such as Ramsgate, the jobs these wind farm projects should bring with them are invaluable.

When the traditional British seaside holiday died a death in the 1960s, many of these towns went into decline and have found it hard to recover ever since.

Unemployment is much higher here - 6.2% in February 2010 - than in the rest of the affluent south east of England where the rate was 3% that month.

Most of the turbines are already up, standing 90 metres above the brown, churning sea. Large, yellow metal stumps stand ready to take the remainder.

The company behind the project, Swedish power giant Vattenfall, has tried hard to work with local contractors.

But even so, skilled staff and almost all the components have had to be brought in from other countries.

Slow to react

Richard Barron is a project manager for Marine South East, a group set up to promote the marine industry.

He admits the Thanet project posed a steep learning curve.

"You need to engage very early with the developers to establish exactly what their needs are," he says.

That means linking up with colleges and schools to make sure local people can get on the right kind of training courses to develop the skills they will need for these new jobs.

Full story:
BBC News - Where have all the green jobs gone?

__________________
cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban

Yeah, I originate from one of those depressed, high-unemployment seaside towns with no more fishing industry and precious little tourism.

You grow up in a town like that, and then, if there is any way on God's green earth that it is possible for you to leave, you leave. You leave to get married. You leave to go to university. You leave because you got a good job offer. You leave to start a new life from scratch in Asia or Australia on the basis that it's as far away as possible.

The poor saps who remain are rarely the ones who could be described as a skilled workforce. The ones who have the potential and the motivation to be a skilled workforce are elsewhere and working in other jobs. You'd need a very particular type of idiot genius to spend years learning about marine engineering in the hope of a possible single six-month contract making turbines in a hellhole town at the edge of nowhere.

It's a vicious circle. The cause is that the town is a depressed sh!thole. The effect is that the town becomes an even more depressed sh!thole.

No wonder they can't find a local skilled workforce.

__________________
Virtually Mary - Virtual Assistant Services
Follow VirtuallyMary on Twitter

I guess you could apply that metric to any town or UK biz. How many times do we see an ailing bluechip start to haemorrhage talent, as the brightest and talented jump ship.

Its a shame though, if local talent can't be found in coastal towns for something like windfarms, that we can't locate it elsewhere in the UK. Someone moving from the Midlands for example, is likely to take his family, buy a house locally, and contribute a lot more to regenerating the local economy, as opposed to a contractor brought in from overseas.

I remember spending some time in Boston (UK). Actually a nice place, but the back of beyond. Although there were (and prob still are) unemployment problems, there seemed to be a high ratio of foreign workers doing the manual work, crop picking, shell fish etc. The local cry goes up that these aren't worthy jobs and dont pay enough, when for £2 less an hour, you can get free money (sorry, meant benefits).

So whats broken? Is it the education system thats not injecting pride and a sense of self improvement into the locals, is it politics, ie hard core working class socialism is more evident in these areas? Or is that South/East Coast resorts need incentives or govt money to entice employers, get money moving which will lift collective morale?

No easy answer, and one that will nodoubt spiral round the welfare state

__________________
cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban