Do green jobs differ from non-green jobs in terms of skills and human capital?

This paper elaborates an empirical analysis of labour force characteristics associated to environmental sustainability. Using data on the United States we compare green and non-green occupations to detect differences in terms of skill content and of human capital. Our empirical profiling reveals that green jobs use high-level abstract skills significantly more than non-green jobs. Moreover, green occupations exhibit higher levels of education, work experience and on-the-job training. While preliminary, this exploratory exercise calls attention to an underdeveloped theme, namely the labour market implications associated with the transition towards green growth.