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Group says Wisconsin should "green" its workforce

MADISON (WKOW)--A University of Wisconsin-based group released a report Tuesday stating that Wisconsin should strive to create environmentally friendly industries and jobs.

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy's (COWS) report, "Greening Wisconsin's Workforce: Training, Recovery and the Clean Energy Economy" looks at how Wisconsin might best use its Recovery Act dollars and first-rate technical college system to ensure that the emerging green economy benefits Wisconsin's working families.

"A greener Wisconsin economy can create and retain jobs," said Sarah White, COWS Senior Associate and the report's author. "To make real progress, we need to carefully target economic and workforce development, ensuring that "green jobs" are good jobs, and that both unemployed and low-income working adults can access training for them."

The report says "green" jobs include many traditionally occupations, such as machinists, assemblers and truck drivers; pipefitters, insulators and carpenters; technicians, mechanics and maintenance workers; bookkeepers, receptionists, and customer service representatives.

And the report says, because most of them will require more than a high school but less than a 4-year college degree, Wisconsin's technical colleges will be a key training resource.

The report also urges Wisconsin to green its manufacturing base and includes an appendix of representative occupations in three green sectors: wind turbine production, energy efficiency, and advanced biofuels.

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan "think-and-do tank" dedicated to improving economic performance and living standards in the state of Wisconsin and nationally. Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, COWS works to promote "high road" strategies that support living wages, environmental sustainability, strong communities, and public accountability.