August 17, 2012
GENEVA (ILO News) – Transitioning to a green economy has a huge potential to create new jobs in Spain at a time when the crisis-hit country is reeling from a 50 per cent youth unemployment rate, according to a newly released report.
However, the report titled Green Jobs for Sustainable Development – The case of Spain, says the severity of the recession, coupled with the austerity measures adopted to counter it, are threatening the creation of green jobs.
This will have “an important impact on employment and growth”, it adds.
At present, there are between 400,000 and 500,000 green jobs in Spain, an estimate which is equivalent to about 2.2 per cent of the country’s total employment. The green economy contributes an estimated € 25 billion per year, or 2.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The report – produced by Sustainlabour, with technical assistance from the ILO –stresses that creating green jobs can actually help beat the recession.
It cites figures from the Observatory on Sustainability in Spain (OSE) and the Biodiversity Foundation (FB), which indicate that more than 1 million green jobs could be created in Spain by 2020, depending on the level of policy support for those sectors which have a high potential to reactivate the economy.
“The green economy presents a good opportunity to increase competitiveness, promote the creation of quality employment and reduce the economy’s environmental impact,” says Joaquín Nieto, who heads the ILO Office in Madrid. “This is particularly relevant at a time when Spain needs to kick-start its economy.”
Recent studies have shown that green sectors in Europe have weathered the recession better than others by retaining more jobs. Earlier this year, the European Commission remarked that jobs growth in the eco-industry averaged 2.7 per cent a year from 2000 to 2008, compared to 1 per cent in the total economy.
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