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Transitioning to a Greener Labor Market: Cross-Country Evidence from Microdata

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. John C Bluedorn
  • Mr. Niels-Jakob H Hansen
  • Diaa Noureldin
  • Mr. Ippei Shibata
  • Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares

Abstract

This paper builds a new set of harmonized indicators of the environmental properties of jobs using micro-level labor force survey data from 34 economies between 2005 and 2019 and analyzes the labor market implications of the green economic transition and environmental policies. Based on the new set of indicators, the paper's main findings are that greener and more polluting jobs are concentrated among smaller subsets of workers, individual workers rarely move from more pollution-intensive to greener jobs, and workers in green-intensive jobs earn on average 7 percent more than workers in pollution-intensive jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. John C Bluedorn & Mr. Niels-Jakob H Hansen & Diaa Noureldin & Mr. Ippei Shibata & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares, 2022. "Transitioning to a Greener Labor Market: Cross-Country Evidence from Microdata," IMF Working Papers 2022/146, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/146
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Kuai, Wenjing & Elliott, Robert J. R. & Okubo, Toshihiro & Ozgen, Ceren, 2025. "Estimating the Green Wage Premium," IZA Discussion Papers 17878, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Adhikari, Shisham, 2025. "Resolving Coordination Frictions in Green Labor Transitions: Minimizing Unemployment, Costs, and Welfare Distortions," MPRA Paper 123479, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. 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].
    5. 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.
    6. 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].
    7. 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".
    8. Mathis Bachelot & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2026. "Assessing the quality of green jobs: An empirical analysis of French data," Post-Print hal-05279355, HAL.
    9. Ham, Andrés & Vazquez, Emmanuel & Yanez-Pagans, Monica, 2025. "Characterizing green and carbon-intensive employment in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    10. Maczulskij, Terhi, 2024. "How are green jobs created? A decomposition analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    11. 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).
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.

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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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