Green Technologies and Practices Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Green Technologies and Practices (GTP) survey?

The Green Technologies and Practices (GTP) survey is a survey of business establishments designed to collect data on establishments’ use of green technologies and practices and the occupations of workers who spend more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices. The GTP survey measures the BLS process approach to green jobs. The output approach to green jobs is measured by the Green Goods and Services (GGS) survey, which collects data on jobs associated with producing goods or providing services that benefit the environment or preserve natural resources. More information on the differences between these surveys is available below in FAQs #10 and #11 and on the BLS Green Jobs homepage.

What data are available from the GTP survey?

The GTP survey produces data on the incidence of specific green technologies and practices and on the total number of jobs in which workers spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices. These data are available for all industries combined at the national and Census region levels, and for NAICS industry sectors at the national level. The GTP survey also produces national occupational employment, mean wage, and median wage estimates for jobs in which workers spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices.

How were the GTP survey data collected?

Survey forms were mailed to a probability sample of approximately 35,000 business establishments. The sample was selected from about 6.7 million business establishments in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, stratified by census region and industry. Seventy percent of sample units responded. Approximately 37 percent of respondents returned the survey form by mail; 47 percent responded by phone; and the remainder responded by email, fax, or via the internet.

Employers were provided several types, descriptions, and examples of green technologies and practices. They were asked whether they used any of these technologies or practices and whether they had any employees who spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices during the pay period including August 12, 2011. For workers who spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices, employers were asked to provide occupational titles, brief descriptions of job duties, and wages by wage range. The occupational data collected were not directly associated with any type of green technology or practice.

What is considered a green technology or practice for the GTP survey?

Green technologies and practices are those that lessen the environmental impact of an establishment’s production processes. GTP survey respondents were asked about 6 specific types of green technologies and practices, grouped into 3 broader categories:

Energy from renewable sources and energy efficiency

1. Generate electricity, heat, or fuel from renewable sources primarily for use within the establishment.

Examples of renewable sources:

• Wind
• Geothermal
• Ocean
• Landfill gas
• Biomass
• Solar
• Hydropower
• Municipal solid waste

2. Use technologies or practices to improve energy efficiency within the establishment.

Examples:

• Energy Star rated appliances
• Occupying a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building
• Energy efficient lighting
• Programmable thermostats
• Cogeneration (combined heat and power)
• Energy efficient manufacturing equipment

Greenhouse gas reduction and pollution reduction and removal

3. Use technologies or practices in operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through methods other than renewable energy generation and energy efficiency.

Examples:

• Purchase and use of carbon offsets
• Promotion and/or subsidy of alternative forms of transportation for employees, such as carpools, fuel efficient vehicles, cycling, or mass transit
• Implementation of a telework program for employees

4. Use technologies or practices to either reduce the creation or release of pollutants or toxic compounds as a result of operations, or to remove pollutants or hazardous waste from the environment.

Examples of pollutants or toxic compounds:

• Carbon monoxide
• Sulfur dioxide,
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
• Nitrogen oxides
• Chlorinated hydrocarbons
• Herbicides or pesticides
• Heavy metals
• Radioactive contamination

Recycling and reuse and natural resource conservation

5. Use technologies or practices to reduce or eliminate the creation of waste materials as a result of operations.

Examples:

• Collecting and reusing or recycling waste
• Managing wastewater
• Composting solid waste
• Remanufacturing

6. Use technologies or practices in operations to conserve natural resources, excluding the use of recycled inputs in the production process.

Examples:

• Managing land resources
• Managing storm water
• Conserving soil, water, or wildlife
• Implement organic agriculture or sustainable forestry practices

Employers also were able to report green activities not specifically mentioned. All of the “other” activities reported were reclassified into one of the 6 existing categories. Employers reported green practices such as making trucks more fuel efficient or driving in a fuel efficient manner, using recycled paper, and reducing paper consumption through double-sided printing or electronic billing.

How are “employees” defined by the GTP survey? What is “GTP employment”?

For the purposes of the GTP survey, “employees” are full- and part-time workers who are paid a wage or salary, including paid owners, officers, and staff of incorporated firms and workers temporarily assigned to other locations. The survey does not include the self-employed or owners, partners, and proprietors of unincorporated firms; unpaid family workers; workers on unpaid leave; workers not covered by unemployment insurance; and contractors and temporary agency employees not on the sampled establishment’s payroll.

Survey respondents were asked to provide information on “GTP employment,” or employment of workers who spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices during the survey reference period. For these workers, employers were asked to provide occupational titles, brief descriptions of job duties, and wages by wage range. Employees were considered to be involved in green technologies and practices if they were researching, developing, maintaining, using, or installing green technologies and practices, or training the establishment’s workers in these technologies and practices.

How does the GTP survey classify occupations?

The GTP survey uses the Office of Management and Budget’s 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system to classify occupations. More information about the Standard Occupational Classification system, including the full SOC structure, is available from our SOC page. Detailed information on using the SOC to classify occupations can be found in our SOC user guide.

Why is there no level of employment related to each green technology or practice? What is the difference between the different GTP employment measures?

Employers were asked two distinct sets of questions about their green technologies and practices. The first was whether they used each of the 6 green technologies or practices during the pay period including August 12, 2011. These data are presented as the number and percent of establishments that reported the green technologies and practices. Employers could report the use of more than one technology or practice.

Employers were also asked whether they had any employees who spent more than half of their time involved in green technologies and practices during the survey reference period. If the employer answered “yes” to this question, the employer was then asked to provide job titles, brief job descriptions, and wages by wage range for these employees. These data are presented as total employment and occupational employment and wage estimates for employees spending more than half their time involved in green technologies and practices (“GTP employees”). Because employers were not asked to associate these employees with specific green technologies or practices, and a given employee could be involved in multiple technologies or practices, there are no GTP occupational employment and wage estimates by specific type of green technology or practice.

How can an establishment use a green technology or practice, but have no employees involved in that technology or practice?

An establishment may have contract employees or consultants implementing its green technologies and practices. Contract employees and consultants are excluded from the establishment’s GTP report. Green technologies and practices implemented by a contractor or consultant represent goods produced or services provided by the contract firm or consulting firm, not an internal green technology or practice of the contract firm or consulting firm, and therefore are excluded from the GTP survey. They would be represented in the Green Goods and Services (GGS) survey if the contract or consulting firm is in an industry covered by GGS.

In addition, an establishment may use a green technology or practice during the reference period, but have no employees actively involved in the green technology or practice during the reference period. Establishments may have had employees research, purchase, or install green technologies or practices in the past, but maintenance wasn’t necessary during the reference period. For example, programmable thermostats or motion detection lighting might not have required maintenance during the reference period.

Why aren’t workers producing green products or providing green services included in this survey?

The BLS is collecting information on jobs associated with producing green products or providing green services through a separate survey, the Green Goods and Services (GGS) survey.

What is the difference between the Green Technologies and Practices (GTP) survey and the Green Goods and Services (GGS) survey? Can I compare or combine data from the two surveys?

The GGS and GTP surveys are based on two distinct concepts and are not designed to be comparable. GTP employment is an estimate of the number of jobs in which workers spend more than half of their time involved in technologies and practices that make their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. The GTP estimate is a measure of the BLS process approach to green jobs. The separate Green Goods and Services (GGS) survey measures the output approach to green jobs by identifying establishments that produce green goods and services. The GGS measure of green employment is based on the proportion of revenue the establishment derives from producing green goods and services. The GGS employment estimate includes the workers directly involved in producing such goods and services as well as other employees of the establishment.

Jobs captured by the GGS and GTP surveys may overlap in establishments that produce green goods and services using green technologies and practices. The extent of the overlap is unknown.

Because the GGS and GTP surveys are based on different concepts and may overlap, users should not sum the estimates to get a count of “total” green employment, nor should they consider the two estimates a range of the number of green jobs. Users should decide which of the approaches best suits their analytical needs. GTP and GGS estimates cannot be compared to each other to provide a measure of the change in green employment over time.

Can the occupational employment in the GTP survey be compared to the occupational employment in the OES survey?

The OES and GTP surveys are not designed to produce comparable data. Anyone making comparisons should be aware that the OES and GTP surveys have differences in scope, reference periods, and methodology. The GTP survey includes farms and other agricultural establishments not included in the OES survey. Industry-specific estimates in the GTP survey include government establishments, and most industry estimates in the OES survey do not. The reference month for GTP is August 2011, and the May 2011 OES estimates are benchmarked to the average of the May 2011 and November 2010 reference periods.

Last Modified Date: June 28, 2012