The Left still lambasts the trickle-down theory behind Reaganomics. Meanwhile, the green jobs theory behind Obamanomics is turning out to be more akin to a nose-dive for worker wages.
The hype
In campaign literature abotu creating 5 million “green jobs,” then candidate Obama said,
The Obama plan will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable, high-paying jobs. [Emphasis added]
in its article about a March 26 White House “townhall meeting”, the Associated Press reported that,
Obama said job creation in America is difficult in a time of economic hardship and that the work of the future should be in more high-paying, high-skill areas like clean energy technology. [Emphasis added]
The reality
But CNNMoney reports:
Massive investment in renewable energy could ultimately create 4 million manufacturing jobs. But for the workers in the bottom rung of this movement, the shift to green jobs could very well mean a pay cut of nearly 60%, a trend spreading across the entire manufacturing sector.
Many of the entry-level jobs making green energy components start at $12 an hour, much less than the now extinct $28 an hour job that had allowed high school-educated workers in the auto sector to achieve middle class status.
“Particularly at the lower end, these are not very good jobs,” said Philip Mattera, research director at Good Jobs First, a labor-friendly research group, also acknowledging that the renewable energy sector paid wages that were “all over the map”… [read more]
Obama buddy Al Gore will possibly make more than a billion dollars from his “green job” — that is, investing in, and lobbying for cap-and-trade — but not everyone will be so fortunate.
