Alternative Energy Jobs
Congressman Dan Goldman (D–NY) claims that “subsidies for alternative energy” in the “Inflation Reduction Act” have “already resulted in $100s billion invested in the U.S. and 10,000s of jobs.”
IN FACT, the IRA’s subsidies enrich green energy investors while neglecting workers and harming the manufacturing sector. As explained in scholarly publications like the encyclopedia Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, the financial benefits of “green energy” subsidies “largely accrue to the owners of capital” because:
- “energy development,” whether “green or fossil fuels,” is “capital-intensive,” which means it uses much more materials and equipment than human labor.
- growth in “the green jobs sector does not necessarily imply net job creation” since it reduces the jobs “that would have been produced from fossil fuels,” and thus, “net job creation may be zero (or negative).”
- consumers suffer because green energy mandates subsidize “inefficient technologies that are more costly,” and this reduces people’s standards of living.
To fund “green energy” subsidies, the IRA increases taxes on certain large corporations, and half of these taxes would come from the manufacturing sector. Per CBO, this “would reduce the incentive for those large corporations to invest,” which means less productivity and lower standards of living.
