Sizing up Illinois’ Clean Energy Workforce
Illinois has set ambitious clean energy goals through state laws like the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act — laws that put millions of dollars a year toward growing and training the workforce needed to build and maintain the state’s clean energy infrastructure.
To help guide that investment, the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) created a Clean Jobs Inventory for Illinois: a detailed study of the state’s clean energy jobs, drawn from multiple federal and state data sources. This report is part of a growing suite of resources developed by CJI to help Illinois align workforce development policy with real employment needs. CJI plans to update the inventory every two years to track how the workforce evolves.
Watch the webinar
Want to go deeper? Watch our webinar walkthrough of A Clean Jobs Inventory for Illinois, featuring report authors Peter Fugiel and Linda Larsen, as they unpack where Illinois’ clean energy jobs are, how fast they’re growing, and what it means for workforce training programs.
You can download the slides here.
About the Report
CJI drew on several major data sources to develop a more comprehensive picture of clean energy jobs in Illinois:
- U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER) — an annual survey-based estimate of energy jobs nationwide and by state, from 2017 through 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational and wage data (OEWS, CPS) used to supplement and corroborate USEER.
- Lightcast job posting analytics, to gauge current demand
- Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) data and long-term occupational projections
- U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship data (RAPIDS), to track apprenticeship growth in the building trades
The report answers the following key questions about Illinois clean energy employment:
- How many clean energy jobs are in Illinois across different clean energy sectors, industries, and regions?
- What are the recent trends in clean energy employment? Where is there increased demand or sustained growth?
- What is the quality of these jobs and what qualifications are needed? Which occupations have relatively high or low pay on average or for new hires? Higher or lower barriers to entry?
Jobs were grouped into four energy sectors — electric power generation, energy efficient buildings, transmission/distribution/storage, and motor vehicles — and examined by industry, region, training pathway, and pay.
Key Findings
Illinois has nearly 125,000 clean energy jobs
These jobs span four sectors: energy efficiency (~60,000 jobs), electric transmission, distribution and storage (~25,000 jobs), electric power generation (~24,000 jobs), and motor vehicles (~16,000 jobs).
Larger, more established clean energy sectors are experiencing modest or no growth
Energy efficiency employment, nearly half of all clean energy jobs, grew modestly between 2019 and 2024, at the same rate as overall Illinois employment. Electric transmission and distribution employment saw flat growth during the same period. Wind (~9,200 jobs) grew modestly, and nuclear (~4,200 jobs) declined.
Apprenticeships in construction and building trades saw consistent, strong growth
The building trades support many different clean energy sectors. Apprenticeship growth points to strong, sustained demand for the building-trade construction jobs that support clean energy.
Solar employment saw rapid and consistent growth
Solar saw the most consistent and rapid growth of any clean energy sector. Job postings and employment numbers show consistent, strong demand for solar jobs statewide, despite the rollback of federal clean energy tax credits in 2025. Future years could see more disruption as the rollbacks take effect.
Emerging clean energy sectors are more exposed to policy shifts
Battery storage and clean motor vehicle jobs grew fast but unevenly. Battery and EV manufacturing jobs saw the most volatility in both employment and postings, perhaps due to federal policy changes.
Clean power generation jobs outnumber fossil fuel jobs 3 to 1
Wind (~9,200 jobs) is the top sector in clean electric power generation, followed by solar (~ 7,200 jobs), and nuclear (~ 4,200 jobs). By comparison, there are ~ 8,600 jobs in the fossil fuel sector. In the motor vehicle sector, by contrast, only about one-in-seven jobs primarily supports clean vehicles — though there’s substantial room for growth given the overlap in skills between combustion and clean-vehicle work.
Higher-Qualification Jobs Come with Higher Pay — and Jobs with Fewer Barriers to Entry Come with Lower Job Quality
Clean energy jobs requiring more training or licensing tend to pay more and offer better advancement. Illinois labor standards on large-scale projects — prevailing wage and project labor agreements — help sustain union density and high wages in clean energy employment.
Workforce Program Recommendations
Based on the inventory, CJI recommends that Illinois’ clean energy workforce programs:
Adopt a Career Cluster Approach
Focus training on broad career clusters — like construction and advanced manufacturing — rather than narrow, single-occupation tracks, so workers gain cross-cutting skills and more job options.
Diversify Training Investment
Avoid concentrating training in a single high-growth niche (like residential solar installation). Balance investment across high-growth and more stable, plentiful sectors to protect participants from volatility.
Tailor Programs to Real Demand
Use inventory and regional data alongside direct relationships with employers and unions — not employment data alone — to identify hiring needs and design programs accordingly.
Focus on Job Quality and Access
Support participants not just into entry-level jobs, but into stable, high-quality careers.
Keep Investing in Building Trades Pathways
Registered apprenticeships remain a proven route into stable, well-paid clean energy careers — active construction apprenticeships in Illinois grew from about 14,000 in 2016 to over 23,000 in 2025.
Conclusion
Illinois’ clean energy workforce spans construction sites, factory floors, utility control rooms, and sales offices across the state — and it’s growing faster than the state’s job market as a whole. But growth is uneven, and jobs vary widely in pay, stability, and how easy they are to enter.
As Illinois continues to invest in its clean energy transition, CJI’s inventory is meant to help workforce programs put resources where they’ll do the most good: building durable career pathways, not just filling today’s openings.