Energy industry employment has long been dominated by the oil and gas sector, but that has changed over the last 12 months or so. With oil prices cratering in 2015 and gas companies laying off large portions of their workforce, many employees have turned to the burgeoning solar industry for jobs.

Expect that trend to continue. Solar industry employment has grown 123 percent since 2010 and 30,000 new solar industry jobs are expected to be added this year.

Oil and Gas Vets Embracing Solar

The employment shift to solar is likely to have long-lasting effects. Many of the established oil and gas workers that have moved on to jobs in the solar industry have said they don’t plan on going back, even if oil prices rebound and their old jobs return.

“People joke about how it is the new boom. Older guys in middle age say they found something where they see longevity,” observed engineer Servando Sendejo who made the switch to solar employment after being laid off from his fracking job last year.

Even some younger workers originally drawn to the oil fields by the lucrative boom-time wages and overtime opportunities plan to stick with their solar jobs in the future.

“If oil booms I’ll send her back to the field,” Sean Fravel, 29, said of his big rig. “I won’t go though. My grandfather always said it’s better to make a slow dime than a fast nickel.”

Such worker enthusiasm for the solar industry should come as no surprise. While the oil industry sheds workers at a clip of 12.6 percent every quarter, the solar industry continues to outperform the overall labor market, having added workers nearly 12 times faster than the economy at large.

In fact, job search site Indeed.com forecasts solar industry jobs to outnumber oil and gas industry jobs by the end of 2016.

More Regions Joining the Solar Party

Further evidence of the explosion in solar industry jobs can be found in how many unexpected areas are investing resources into building their solar presence. Boston and Chicago don’t immediately come to mind when thinking about solar power due to their long winters and cloudy weather, but they have each made a major commitment to solar energy.

Thanks to the Mass Solar Loan Program, Massachusetts, led by Boston, had the United States’ fourth-highest amount of solar installations in 2014. Likewise, a series of local incentives and programs helped Chicago achieve a record year in terms of solar power production in 2015.

Those examples illustrate solar’s rise in prominence across the nation, but California remains the leader of the solar movement. California is a natural fit for solar power given its bountiful sunshine and solar recently became the state’s top renewable energy source.

Solar power has become so ubiquitous in California that it is now estimated to provide nearly 10 percent of the state’s electricity.

As more and more municipalities and states implement solar initiatives, the number of jobs provided by the solar industry will continue to rise. It won’t be long before solar industry workers comprise a major part of the American labor force.

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