Reuters (04/13/12) Andy Sullivan

Three years after the Obama administration launched a push to
build a job-creating “green” economy, the millions of
jobs predicted have been slow to become reality. A $500 million
job-training program has so far helped fewer than 20,000 people
find work, far short of its goal. The White House said in
November 2010 that its clean-energy efforts had generated work
for 225,000 people and would ultimately create a total of 827,000
“job years”—implying average annual employment of
around 200,000 over the four years of Obama’s presidential
term. White House officials stand by that estimate and say job
creation is only one aspect of the clean-energy push.

Backers of the notion of a “green collar” work force
argue that earth-friendly energy is a promising growth sector
that could create a bounty of stable, middle-class jobs and fill
the gap left by manufacturing work that has moved overseas.
However, Darren Divine, vice president for academics at the
College of Southern Nevada, says the fields of health care,
education, and technology are likely to provide the best
employment prospects in the years to come.