In testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, AAF President Douglas Holtz-Eakin discusses problems with the federal government’s attempt to develop a so-called green energy workforce.

Key points:

• The notion that a unique “green energy workforce” requires a federally funded program to train workers in green energy installation is flawed, given that the skills needed to build, operate, and maintain facilities such as wind farms and solar fields are the same skills required across many other industries in the U.S. economy.
• To the extent there are firm-specific or occupation-specific skills needed for this workforce, there are adequate private-sector incentives to acquire them.
• In general, the federal government has an expensive, less-than-stellar track record in workforce development.

Read the Testimony

Watch the Hearing