2 Million Jobs in 2 Years, if Congress Opts for Green Stimulus

Dollar for Dollar, Investing in Green Yields More Jobs Than Either Oil Subsidies or Tax Rebates: Report September 9, 2008 by Dan Shapley
Congress can spend less money than it did on the last economic stimulus package, create more jobs and help stave off catastrophe via climate change. That's the gist of an authoritative new report from U-Mass Amherst and the Center for American Progress.
Green Recovery outlines how to spend $100 billion over two years to create nearly 2 million new jobs. Invest the same money in the oil industry, and you get just 542,00 jobs (and a commitment to more fossil fuel pollution). Invest the same money in tax rebates and you get 1.7 million jobs (and a whole lot more consumption).

The report recommends investing in four priority infrastructure projects:

• Retrofitting Buildings
• Mass Transit and Freight Rail
• Smart Grids
• Renewable Energy

Because the jobs created by these types of investments — everything from construction and steel workers to civil engineers and chemists — would be distributed wherever there are homes, public buildings, public transportation, and wherever there is wind and sun, the program could create jobs across the entire U.S.
Enough jobs, its authors say, to drive down unemployment from the five-year high of 6.1% to 4.4%!
Read more at: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/shapley/green-collar-stimulus-47090905