A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts says Iowa is among the leaders when it comes to creating environmentally friendly jobs in the so-called "green economy." Pew spokesman Kil Huh says its the most detailed look yet at these type of jobs.
He says the report looked at jobs, investments, businesses as well as patents. Huh says they found in 2007 there were 770,000 jobs with 68,000 businesses, and says the jobs grew at a rate of 9.1% compared to 3.7% for jobs overall. Huh says Iowa has seen rapid growth in this area in the last 10 years.
Huh says Iowa had over 7,700 jobs in the "clean energy economy." He says jobs in Iowa grew by over 26% from 1998 to 2007, and Iowa ranked 11th in terms of attracting venture capital investments, Iowa was ranked 30th in terms of total jobs, 29th in businesses, and 31st in patents.
Huh says Iowa has set itself up to continue increasing the number of "green economy" jobs. He say the state has put the policies in place to drive job growth in the future.
Huh says Iowa has the financial incentives in place and also has renewable portfolio standards, and energy efficiency standards, and the regional cap-and-trade standards that provide a road map for utilities. Huh says those polices with also spur job growth.
You can see the entire report on-line at the Pew Trusts website .