Green collar jobs are defined as good jobs, offering people living wages, health benefits, meaningful work, high levels of job satisfaction, and opportunities for occupational mobility.

To ensure Americans benefit from green collar jobs, Congress took its strongest stand yet by passing the Green Jobs Act of 2007, signed into law on December 19, 2007. The legislation authorizes $125 million annually for greening the nation's workforce -- enough to train up to 35,000 people a year.

Two key sectors of the U.S. economy offer workers these highly-valued green collar jobs: 1) large-scale manufacturing of solar panels and other photovoltaic technologies and 2) solar installation and maintenance. Besides creating management and technical opportunities, both sectors generate green collar jobs in customer service, evaluation, installation, construction, maintenance and repairs.