IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/11373.html

Occupational Mobility and Green Transition : A Stylized Estimation of Skill Investment Needs in South Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Ham, Andrés
  • Vazquez, Emmanuel Jose
  • Yanez Pagans, Monica
  • Knudsen, Camilla
  • Asad, Saher

Abstract

This paper estimates the share of green employment in seven South Asian countries using an O*NET-based definition and finds that, on average, 24 percent of jobs in the region are currently green. The paper then assesses the potential for non-green workers to transition into green occupations. Among all non-green workers, 57 percent could transition to green jobs with limited reskilling, 16 percent with moderate upskilling, and 27 percent with full skills reconversion. These results suggest three policy priorities—promoting on-the-job training, strengthening firm-based and public–private training systems, and adopting a dual strategy that invests in reskilling and upskilling today’s workforce while simultaneously advancing forward-looking education reforms that equip future cohorts for new and emerging green occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ham, Andrés & Vazquez, Emmanuel Jose & Yanez Pagans, Monica & Knudsen, Camilla & Asad, Saher, 2026. "Occupational Mobility and Green Transition : A Stylized Estimation of Skill Investment Needs in South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11373, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11373
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099723005052623240/pdf/IDU-77faf033-ac5e-4335-9309-387e63c60b30.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Consoli, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Marzucchi, Alberto & Vona, Francesco, 2016. "Do green jobs differ from non-green jobs in terms of skills and human capital?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 1046-1060.
    2. Gasparini Leonardo & Leonardo Tornaroli, 2009. "Labor Informality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Patterns and Trends from Household Survey Microdata," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bohlmann, H.R. & Horridge, J.M. & Inglesi-Lotz, R. & Roos, E.L. & Stander, L., 2019. "Regional employment and economic growth effects of South Africa’s transition to low-carbon energy supply mix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 830-837.
    2. Hernan Winkler & Vincenzo Di Maro & Kelly Montoya & Sergio Olivieri & Emmanuel Vazquez, 2024. "Measuring Green Jobs: A New Database for Latin America and Other Regions," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0335, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    3. de la Vega, Pablo & Porto, Natalia & Cerimelo, Manuela, 2024. "Going green: estimating the potential of green jobs in Argentina," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 58, pages 1-001.
    4. Łukasz Jarosław Kozar & Robert Matusiak & Marta Paduszyńska & Adam Sulich, 2022. "Green Jobs in the EU Renewable Energy Sector: Quantile Regression Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Francesco Vona & Giovanni Marin & Davide Consoli, 2019. "Measures, drivers and effects of green employment: evidence from US local labor markets, 2006–2014," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 1021-1048.
    6. Ronconi, Lucas & Zarazaga S.J., Rodrigo, 2015. "Labor Exclusion and the Erosion of Citizenship Responsibilities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 453-461.
    7. Wang, Chao & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2022. "The effect of environmental regulation and skill premium on the inflow of FDI:Evidence from Chinese industrial sectors," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 227-242.
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2vteelu0n785l82j764n6ul273 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Bachmann Ronald & Eßer Jana & Fitzthum Mirjam & Vonnahme Christina, 2025. "Die ökologische Transformation des Arbeitsmarktes: Individuelle Betroffenheit und Erwartungen," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 74(3), pages 211-273.
    10. Shuang Ren & Guiyao Tang & Susan Jackson, 2018. "Green human resource management research in emergence: A review and future directions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 769-803, September.
    11. Orsatti, Gianluca & Pialli, Guido & Quatraro, Francesco, 2026. "The skill requirements of the Circular Economy through job advertisements: evidence from Italy," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202602, University of Turin.
    12. Rafaela Bastidas & Nicolás Acosta, 2019. "Misallocation and manufacturing TFP in Ecuador: formal, semi-formal and informal firms," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, December.
    13. Armanda Cetrulo & Dario Guarascio & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "Anatomy of the Italian occupational structure: concentrated power and distributed knowledge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(6), pages 1345-1379.
    14. Gianluca Orsatti & François Perruchas & Davide Consoli & Francesco Quatraro, 2020. "Public Procurement, Local Labor Markets and Green Technological Change. Evidence from US Commuting Zones," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(4), pages 711-739, April.
    15. Guillermo Cruces & Martín A. Rossi & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2023. "Dishonesty and Public Employment," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 511-526, December.
    16. Antón, Arturo & Leal, Julio, 2013. "Aggregate Effects of a Universal Social Insurance Fiscal Reform," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4580, Inter-American Development Bank.
    17. E. Mark Curtis & Ioana Marinescu, 2023. "Green Energy Jobs in the United States: What Are They, and Where Are They?," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 202-237.
    18. Cirillo, Valeria & Divella, Marialuisa & Ferrulli, Eustachio & Greco, Lidia, 2024. "Active labor market policies in the framework of Just Transition Programs: the case of Italy, Spain, and Germany," Working Papers 79, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    19. Amaral, Ernesto F.L. & Queiroz, Bernardo L. & Haussmann Rodarte Faustino, Samantha & Quaresma, Guilherme, 2025. "Individual earnings differentials by education level in Brazil: the greater inequality of the informal sector," Notas de Población, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), October.
    20. Lobsiger, Michael & Rutzer, Christian, 2021. "Green potential of Europe's labour force: Relative share and possible skills imbalances," Working papers 2021/04, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    21. Shakeba Foster, 2023. "Employment transitions with high unemployment and a small informal sector: Examining worker flows during normal and recessionary periods in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-56, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • 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
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11373. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.