Solar jobs are on the decline — the industry blames Trump
“The solar industry was held up as a job-creation engine just a few years ago, when the fastest-growing job in America was that of the solar-panel installer. Solar sector employment quickly became key to the U.S. energy industry. Nationwide, about as many people work in solar companies as in natural gas, while coal mining employs less than half that amount, according to the Energy Futures Initiative. But that hiring spree has cooled notably. Since 2016, the industry has shrunk for two years in a row, losing about 18,000 jobs, according to a yearly report from the Solar Foundation. Solar employment last year was 242,300, nearly 8,000 lower than in 2017 and down from a peak of 260,000 than in 2016.”