The green transition is changing jobs, skills, and local economies. It poses new challenges but also opportunities, both of which will differ across places within countries. This report, Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2023: Bridging the Great Green Divide, provides novel evidence on those risks and opportunities across regions in 30 OECD countries. It examines the geography of green-task and polluting jobs and examines the impact of the green transition on gender and socioeconomic inequality by identifying the characteristics of workers in those jobs. Furthermore, the report tracks the progress regions have made in greening their labour market over the past decade. The report provides actionable policy recommendations that can help deliver a green and just transition. It looks at past and other ongoing labour market transitions and identifies local success drivers that can help communities prepare for and manage the impact of the green transition. Finally, it points out actions for ramping up and adapting local skills development systems to meet the demands of the green transition and equip their workforce with the right skills for the future.

1. OECD Launch of
Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2023:
Bridging the Great Green Divide
14 March 2023 14:00 CET
LEED
GOOD JOBS, GREAT PLACES

2. Opening remarks
Yoshiki Takeuchi, OECD Deputy
Secretary-General
Bridging the Great
Presentation of the report
Karen Maguire, Head of Division,
Local Employment and Economic
Development (LEED) Programme,
OECD
Moderator
Lukas Kleine-Rueschkamp,
Coordinator, Local Labour Markets,
LEED Programme, OECD
Speakers
Barbara Kauffmann, Director, Employment and Social
Governance, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion,
European Commission
Noelia Cantero, Director, European Association of Regional and
Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning
James Gomme, Director, Equity Action of the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development
Debora Revoltella, Director of the Economics Department of
the European Investment Bank, acting as Chief Economist
Yonnec Polet, Rapporteur, Committee of the Regions and 1st
Deputy Mayor of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Belgium
Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Director, ILO Priority Action
Programme, Just transitions towards environmentally
sustainable economies and societies
Green Divide

3. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Bridging the Great Green Divide
The green transition and
jobs, what do we know?
Implications for local
jobs, skills and
economic development
Lessons from past
transitions
The way forward: local
actions for a green
future

4. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
How can we measure green jobs?
Green jobs can be
classified in two ways
Our approach is bottom-up.
We measure jobs with green tasks for
regions across 30 OECD countries.
Industry/Sector
Industries/GHG
Occupations
Tasks or skills
Main advantages:
• Captures regional/local information
• Includes the entire economy
• Directly linked to policy action:
occupations -> tasks -> skills -> training
Top down Bottom up

5. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
What are green jobs for this report?
Green jobs have
at least 10%of tasks
directly supporting
sustainable development

6. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Local labour markets are greening… slowly
Little change in share of green jobs… … but the demand is increasingly green
Around 18% of workers in the
OECD have jobs with a
significant share of green tasks,
up from 16% a decade ago

7. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Divides across places: geography of green jobs
Share of green-task jobs
Green regional
employment
shares
Less than 10%
in South
Dakota (US)
Western
Greece
Newfoundland
and Labrador
(Canada)
30% or more
Stockholm,
(Sweden) Oslo
& Viken,
(Norway) Île-
de-France
Within-country
disparity
5 pp or less
Austria,
Australia,
Switzerland,
Italy
More than 10 pp
United States,
France, Finland,
Hungary

8. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Divides across places: geography of “polluting” jobs
Share of polluting jobs
Australian Capital
Territory, Wellington (NZL),
Greater London: <5%
La Rioja (Spain)
Central Moravia (Czech Republic)
> 25%
Regions relying on “polluting” jobs face greater risks of job losses

9. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Divides by gender In a subset of OECD countries, over 20
million women would need to change to
green jobs to reach gender parity

10. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Divides across workers in skills and pay
Employees in green-task jobs
have:
• Higher levels of formal education
• Higher average skills levels
• 20-30% higher wage premium
relative to non-green jobs
Workers in polluting jobs are
least likely to participate in
trainings
Highly educated workers are over-represented
in green-task jobs

11. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Divides across firms by size, more in large firms
Large firms account for
31% of green jobs,
Higher share than
other jobs

12. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
The way forward: actions to
bridge the green jobs divide
across communities
@OECD_local #ChampionMayors

13. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Local and national success drivers from past
transitions
Share a clear
and long-term
vision and
strategy
Anticipate and
pursue
proactive
measures
Build strong
coalitions
focussing on
social inclusion
Invest in local
re-skilling
programmes
Invest in
attractiveness
of the region
and innovation
Similarities in transitions from coal, digitalisation, globalisation, however the
green transition is more policy than market driven

14. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Local actions for a green future
Local adult
learning
systems that help
workers adapt to
the changing labour
market
C
E
A
Green skills
coalitions
for environmental
policies to be met
with labour market
interventions
Labour Market
Intelligence
that informs
effective green
policies
B
Public
Employment
Services that
promote a just
transition
D
Local development
efforts that help firms
create green jobs and
boost local economic
growth

15. If you would like a country-
specific presentation, contact us!
karen.maguire@oecd.org
lukas.kleine-rueschkamp@oecd.org
ada.zakrzewska@oecd.org
agustin.basauri@oecd.org
tijs.creijghton@oecd.org

16. Barbara Kauffmann, Director,
Employment and Social
Governance, DG Employment,
Social Affairs & Inclusion,
European Commission
Bridging the Great Green Divide
PANEL DISCUSSION
Yonnec Polet, Rapporteur,
Committee of the Regions and
1st Deputy Mayor of Berchem-
Sainte-Agathe, Belgium
Noelia Cantero, Director, European
Association of Regional and Local
Authorities for Lifelong Learning
James Gomme, Director,
Equity Action of the World
Business Council for
Sustainable Development
Debora Revoltella, Director of the
Economics Department of the European
Investment Bank, acting as Chief Economist
Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Director,
Priority Action Programme, Just
transitions towards environmentally
sustainable economies and societies