Unfortunately, there is growing evidence that government support of green industries will cost more jobs than it creates, according to a new analysis by the National Center for Policy Analysis.…President Obama has identified Spain and Denmark as having benefited from subsidized green job creation. However, in Spain, a 2009 study from Madrid's King Juan Carlos University showed that for every green job the Spanish government created, 2.2 jobs were lost as energy-intensive industries closed down or moved to other countries with lower energy costs:
Like Spain, Denmark's green industry, which is primarily wind-powered electricity generation, was heavily subsidized and likely would not have existed without government support. A 2009 report by the Center for Political Studies states that the Danish government spent between $90,000 and $140,000 to create each wind job. But of the 28,400 people that were employed in the Danish wind industry, 1 in 10 were new jobs – the remaining 90 percent were positions shifted from one industry to another. Green Jobs: Hope or Hype Redux
- The government's green job push created approximately 50,000 jobs, but resulted in a loss of more than 110,000 jobs in other industries.
- Only 1 in 10 of the new green jobs was permanent
- Each green job created since 2000 has required about $774,000 in government subsidies.