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Transitioning to a greener labor market: Cross-country evidence from microdata

Author

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  • Bluedorn, John
  • Hansen, Niels-Jakob
  • Noureldin, Diaa
  • Shibata, Ippei
  • Tavares, Marina M.

Abstract

To better understand the potential consequences of the green economic transformation and green policies for workers, we construct and analyze a new set of harmonized indicators of the environmental properties of jobs using micro-level labor force survey data for a large cross-country sample of 31 countries over 2005–19. We find that greener and more polluting jobs are concentrated among small subsets of workers, individual workers rarely move from more pollution-intensive to greener jobs, and workers in green-intensive jobs earn on average 7% more than workers in pollution-intensive jobs. Stronger environmental policies are associated with a higher (lower) share of green-(pollution-)intensive jobs and appear to be even more effective when structural policies that incentivize greater flexibility in labor markets are operating. Taken together, the evidence suggests that with the right policies, the green transition for the labor market is manageable but will be tough for some workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Bluedorn, John & Hansen, Niels-Jakob & Noureldin, Diaa & Shibata, Ippei & Tavares, Marina M., 2023. "Transitioning to a greener labor market: Cross-country evidence from microdata," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:126:y:2023:i:c:s0140988323003341
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106836
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    Cited by:

    1. Ham, Andrés & Vazquez, Emmanuel & Yanez-Pagans, Monica, 2025. "Characterizing green and carbon-intensive employment in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    2. Maczulskij, Terhi, 2024. "How are green jobs created? A decomposition analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    3. Knudsen, Camilla & Moura, Fernanda Senra de & Bucker, Joris Joseph Johannes Hendrik & Mealy, Penelope Ann, 2025. "Five Frictions : Key Labor Market Barriers to Unlocking Job Growth in the Green Transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11224, The World Bank.
    4. Kuai, Wenjing & Elliott, Robert J. R. & Okubo, Toshihiro & Ozgen, Ceren, 2025. "Estimating the Green Wage Premium," IZA Discussion Papers 17878, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Javed, Asif & Usman, Nimra, 2025. "Skill-biased labour market effects of environmental policy and green energy transition in Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    6. Adhikari, Shisham, 2025. "Resolving Coordination Frictions in Green Labor Transitions: Minimizing Unemployment, Costs, and Welfare Distortions," MPRA Paper 123479, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Luis Fernández Intriago & Sharan Burrow & Shouvik Chakraborty & Reza Daniels & Alan Finkelstein Shapiro & Helena Garcia & Raphael Heffron & Michael Jakob & Markus Janser & Suzi Kerr & Catherine Leinin, 2025. "Overcoming five key challenges to make the energy transition a just labor transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-3, December.
    8. Cloé Garnache & Elisabeth Isaksen & Maria Nareklishvili, 2025. "Labor Market Impacts of the Green Transition: Evidence from a Contraction in the Oil Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 12057, CESifo.
    9. Bachmann, Ronald & Janser, Markus & Lehmer, Florian & Vonnahme, Christina, 2024. "Disentangling the Greening of the Labour Market: The Role of Changing Occupations and Worker Flows," IAB-Discussion Paper 202412, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    10. Andrés García-Suaza & Carlos Sepúlveda-Rico & Pamela Caiza-Guamán, 2025. "Understanding labor market transitions in the Green Economy: A synthetic panel approach for Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo 022159, Universidad del Rosario.
    11. Juliette Caucheteux & Sam Fankhauser & Sugandha Srivastav, 2025. "Climate Change Mitigation Policies for Developing Countries," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 69-89.
    12. Faißt, Christian & Hamann, Silke & Jahn, Daniel & Janser, Markus & Otto, Anne & Wapler, Rüdiger & Wydra-Somaggio, Gabriele, 2025. "Beruflicher Wandel in Rheinland-Pfalz: Nimmt die Bedeutung umweltschonender Kompetenzen zu?," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland 202502, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Flavio Contrada & Pietro Dindo & Alessandro Spiganti, 2025. "Carbon Tax, Labour Market Segregation, and Inequality," Working Papers 2025: 29, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    14. Mathis Bachelot & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2026. "Assessing the quality of green jobs: An empirical analysis of French data," Post-Print hal-05279355, HAL.

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    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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