Cap-and-Trade Destroys Jobs
Promise: "But the bulk of our efforts must focus on unleashing a new, clean-energy economy that will … cut our
carbon pollution by about 80 percent by 2050, and create millions of new jobs right here in America[.]"
-- President Barack Obama, April 22, 2009 (speech in Newton, Iowa)
Reality: Cap-and-trade will destroy millions of jobs overall, even if it does create some green jobs.
Numerous studies have analyzed the effect of cap-and-trade legislationi and concluded that it would result in
millions of fewer jobs overall, even if it does create some green jobs. The Energy Information Administration
(EIA), the government agency in charge of providing official energy statistics, concluded that cap-and-trade could
result in up to 2.3 million fewer jobs in 2030 and up to 800,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in 2030, after
including new green jobs.ii
The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) commissioned a study by Charles River Associates (CRA)
that concluded cap-and-trade would result in about 1.5 million fewer jobs in 2015 and 3.6 million fewer jobs in
2050, after new green jobs were considerediii (graph belowiv).
The National Association of Manufacturers
(NAM) commissioned a study by Science
Applications International Corporation that
concluded cap-and-trade would result in up to
2.44 million fewer jobs overall in 2030 and up
to 740,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in 2030,
including new green jobs.v
Think tanks such as the Heritage Foundationvi
and the Brookings Institutionvii also predict
jobs will be lost overall under a cap-and-trade
regime, after considering new green jobs. The
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did
not model employment effects in their analyses
of cap-and-trade.
Study
Year
Fewer Jobs
Fewer Mfg Jobs
EIA
2030
2.3 mil.*
800,000
NBCC
2050
3.6 mil.
n/a
NAM
2030
2.44 mil.*
744,000
Heritage
2035
2.5 mil.
1.4 mil.
Brookings
**
-0.5%
n/a
CBO
n/a
n/a
n/a
EPA