A new report shows that the percentage of jobs in the U.S. that fall under the category "green" has increased over the last 50 years to 9 million, or 6% of the total workforce.

This number is not only set to exponentially rise to 24 million, or 14% of total workforce over the next 10 years, but is already underestimated in most private and public employment data.

The report was prepared by Working Nation, a non-profit aimed at educating people about job trends to help influence positive outcomes for the workers of the future.

Using a simple definition for "green economy" and "green jobs" gave Working Nation a metric that was neither on the high end or low end of existing job count estimates, and one that matched other metrics used in inter-industry job tracking reports.

Most green jobs in the green economy, the report found, are actually quite typical jobs that don't represent actual solar-panel installation, for example-but often fall under roles in, say, accountancy or engineering, for green economy firms or production.

The future of the green economy in the report was all the more striking. Two separate research/data collection/data analysis services prepared forecasts of the green economy under the parameters set by Working Nation and found that the green economy over the next eight years will grow at sixteen times the nationwide job creation rate.

They also found that investments in the green economy disproportionately create more jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services than the U.S. average.

Report contributor Roger Bezdek believes this information can offer critical support for garnering interest in greater involvement and investment in the green economy.

"I feel very good about the results," Bezdek told WS. "My major concern is being able to communicate this critical information to legislators, policy-makers, and decision-makers- and to the general public.

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