The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
US solar jobs fell for a second straight year as companies delayed projects in anticipation of President Donald Trump’s import tariffs. The good news: Employment is set to bounce back in 2019.
The sector lost about 8,000 jobs in 2018, a 3.2 percent drop, as uncertainty over the tariffs announced early that year slowed large-scale projects, according to a report Tuesday from the Solar Foundation. The industry, which more than doubled its workforce since 2010, now employs about 242,000 people.
“We saw it coming,†Ed Gilliland, senior director at the Solar Foundation, said in an interview. “The uncertainty was a constraint.â€
There is, however, a turnaround ahead: Job growth will resume in 2019, jumping by 7 percent, according to the foundation. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, forecasts that solar-panel installer will be the fastest-growing occupation through 2026.
The US solar industry warned tariffs would slow growth and impact employment. When Trump announced the duties in January 2018, the Solar Energy Industries Association projected 23,000 job losses.
In the end, the duties on imported solar equipment were lower than developers feared. But delays that began in the run-up to the White House’s final decision cascaded for months, slowing jobs growth for the first three quarters of 2018, according to the Solar Foundation, which has been tracking solar employment since 2010.