Study questions whether green jobs are truly ‘good jobs’

A new study examining the French labour market is challenging the widely promoted idea that green jobs are automatically “good jobs,” revealing that many workers in environmentally focused roles face lower wages and weaker job security compared to their non-green counterparts.

The research, published in the International Labour Review by researchers Mathis Bachelot and Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, found that while some green occupations offer stable and high-quality employment, others are marked by precarious contracts, low pay, and limited career security.

The concept of green jobs gained momentum after the 2008 financial crisis, when policymakers and international organisations promoted environmentally sustainable employment as a pathway to both economic recovery and climate action. A landmark report by the United Nations Environment Programme had argued that green jobs should also be “decent work,” offering fair wages, job security, safe working conditions, and worker rights.

However, the new French analysis suggests the reality is more complex.

Using data from the French 2021–2022 Labour Force Survey covering nearly 47,000 wage-earners, the researchers assessed job quality across several indicators including wages, contract stability, working hours, remote work access, and training opportunities.

According to the findings, green workers in France earn, on average, around €155 less per month than workers in non-green occupations with similar characteristics. They are also less likely to have permanent contracts or full-time employment.

“Our central finding is that, in France, green jobs are on average associated with lower job quality than non-green jobs,” the authors wrote.

The study found that the burden is not evenly distributed across the workforce. Lower-skilled green workers, particularly blue-collar and clerical employees, experience the sharpest disadvantages in both wages and socio-economic security. 

By contrast, highly skilled green workers often enjoy equal or better conditions than non-green workers, especially regarding flexible working arrangements and autonomy.

The researchers also identified significant differences within the green economy itself, dividing green jobs into four broad categories.

About 22% of green workers were found to hold what the study described as “good green jobs,” characterised by strong wages, stable contracts, full-time employment, and access to training. These positions were largely concentrated among highly qualified workers in the public sector and large firms.

The majority, accounting for 61% of green workers, fell into a category of “green stable average quality jobs,” which offered employment stability but relatively modest pay. 

Another 10% were classified as “green odd jobs,” marked by irregular hours and low wages, while 7% were identified as “precarious green jobs,” involving involuntary part-time work, fixed-term contracts, and little access to training or schedule control.

The findings come amid growing global pressure on governments and businesses to accelerate the ecological transition while ensuring social equity. The researchers warned that without targeted labour and skills policies, the green transition could deepen existing inequalities rather than reduce them.

The paper also linked the issue to broader political tensions around climate policy, citing France’s Mouvement des gilets jaunes protests, which were partly fuelled by concerns that energy costs disproportionately affected working-class households.

“Green jobs are not ‘good jobs by default’,” the authors stated. “Being ‘green’ does not automatically confer quality.”

The researchers argued that improving green employment conditions would require proactive policy interventions, including subsidies tied to job quality standards, stronger collective bargaining in green sectors, better certification and recognition of green skills, and expanded training opportunities for lower-skilled workers.

“Ecological transition is a political project,” the study concluded. “Its success depends on the support of workers and consequently on our ability to make green jobs good jobs for all.”