Asia-Pacific lags in hiring for green jobs: LinkedIn

GIVEN the urgent need to address climate change, green skills or green jobs have been deemed critical to enable economies to transition towards greater sustainability.

According to data from professional networking site LinkedIn, the hiring of green jobs in the global workforce have been rising. Job postings requiring green skills have gone up by 8 per cent annually over the past 5 years, while the share of green talent has grown at around 6 per cent annual over the same time period.

However, the hiring for green jobs or green skills is lagging behind in Asia-Pacific, said LinkedIn in a report on green skills released on Tuesday (Apr 19).

Looking at data from 5 Asia-Pacific countries, namely, Australia, China, India, New Zealand and Singapore, the LinkedIn report stated that green hiring in these places fall behind Europe and the United States.

The report focused on these 5 countries as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are some of the world's highest income economies, while China and India are the world's two most populous countries.

When comparing the United States to each of these countries, the growth in hiring for green jobs still falls short, though the lag is not as pronounced in the high-income markets of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

In fact, the share of hiring for green jobs in India in 2021 is actually lower than in 2016, while the growth in the share of green hiring in China has declined in 2021 compared to 2020, according to data from LinkedIn.

"These two giants of the world economy are between them responsible for 20 per cent of global GDP (gross domestic product), a number which is rising, making the greening of their economies more urgent than nearly any other country," read the report.

As for the hiring of greening jobs, which is defined by LinkedIn to refer to roles that can be performed without green skills but typically require some green skills, its share out of total hiring has declined since 2016 in Asia-Pacific.

However, LinkedIn said this could be temporary as it follows a global pattern where hiring rebounded strongly in 2021 as economies around the world started recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

SINGAPORE

While the share of green hiring was 15 per cent higher in 2021 compared to 2016, non-green jobs also accounted for a growing share of hiring over the period in Singapore.

Government backing for environmental research is reflected in hiring, with the education sector having the highest share of green talent hires in Singapore.

The finance, as well as the software and information technology sectors are also major recruiters.

The report stated that Singapore’s green transformation is making mixed progress and that there is "much to be done" if the city-state is to reach the green economy goals of sustainable development laid out in the country's Green Plan 2030.

AUSTRALIA

According to LinkedIn, Australia is the only country among the 5 where the proportion of green jobs being filled out of total hiring has increased every year since 2016.

Even then, green jobs account for 1.2 per cent of all hires in 2021, even though it is a 50 per cent increase from 2016.

The share of hiring for greening jobs was flat between 2016 and 2021.

Most of the green jobs filled in 2021 were in the energy and mining sector, as a result of the government's plan to invest in renewable generation and storage. Green hiring for the construction sector is likely to accelerate in the next few years.

The roles of ecologist and geologist rank as two of the three fastest-growing jobs in Australia.

CHINA

The share of hiring for green jobs in China only increased marginally since 2016. However, jobs that occasionally require some level of green skills made up almost 50 per cent of total hiring in 2021.

"This suggests potential for China’s green transformation to accelerate in the coming years," read the report.

Unlike other parts of the world, the finance sector in China is among the leading recruiters of green talent last year, alongside the government's plans to encourage a green finance system and provide support for green lending and investment.

Clean energy is also another area of focus as the government pushes for a transition to renewable energy. Renewable energy, wind energy, and solar energy are among the top three green skills in China jobseekers are looking to acquire.

The fastest-growing green job in China is the role of sustainability manager, which saw a 33 per cent increase in hires between 2016 and 2021.

INDIA

Non-green jobs accounted for a greater share of hiring in India 2021 compared with 2016, while the share of green jobs and those that require some level of green skills, declined over the same time period.

In 2021, 56 per cent of all hiring in India was into non-green jobs — 13 percentage points higher than in China and 6 percentage points higher than the global figure.

The manufacturing and construction sectors are the leading recruiters of green talent, with safety manager becoming the second-fastest growing green job in India between 2016 and 2021.

Sustainability manager was the fastest growing green job over the same time period.

NEW ZEALAND

Green hiring in New Zealand was 41 per cent higher in 2021 compared to 2016, while the share of hiring for non-green jobs declined by almost 4 per cent over the same time period.

Public administration is one of the main recruiters of green talent in New Zealand, with policy advisor as the fastest growing job requiring some level of green skills between 2016 and 2021.

The country is likely to create more green roles as the government continues to adopt ambitious environmental targets.

The construction sector is also a leading recruiter of green talent, though roles in building management are increasingly requiring green skills. Real estate specialist roles were the second-fastest rising greening job, increasing 18 per cent between 2016 and 2021.