INTRODUCTION
In recent years, Australia has experienced growth in the amount of energy derived from renewable energy sources. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Energy Account, Australia 2012-13 (cat. no. 4604.0) reports that 335 PJ of energy was supplied from renewable sources in 2012-13, up from 259 PJ in 2008-09. While the proportion of energy supplied from renewable sources in Australia remains small, there is considerable interest in renewable energy including interest in the amount of employment associated with renewable energy activities. This publication contains the first set of ABS estimates of annual direct full time equivalent (FTE) employment in renewable energy activities. Estimates relate to the years 2009-10 to 2013-14 for Australia, state and territory. Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
There are no comprehensive international statistical standards to guide the definition and measurement of employment in renewable energy activities and therefore this project has had to resolve a number of questions and challenges without the benefit of a guiding standard. The primary challenge is that renewable energy activities take place across a range of industries and there is no agreed definition of the renewable energy industry. In measuring employment by an industry, conventional practice is to assign each business to an industry based on the predominant activity of the business. Employees are then deemed to belong to the industry to which their employer has been assigned. Thus, the measurement of employment by industry is in concept relatively straightforward for standard industries such as mining, manufacturing or retail trade. On the other hand, measuring employment for non-standard industries, such as renewable energy, tourism or information and communication technologies (ICT), requires careful consideration and definition of what is being measured and the associated methodology.
A role of this publication is to establish guiding principles for understanding employment in renewable energy. These guidelines have been established in large part by following general accounting principles embodied in relevant international statistical standards: the 2008 edition of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA); and the 2012 Central Framework of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA-CF). Appendix 1 describes how relevant international statistical standards have been interpreted and used to develop a notion of employment in renewable energy activities.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Renewable Energy and Jobs (2013) publishes estimates of employment in renewable energy at global, regional and national levels. IRENA acknowledges the difficulties of drawing together disparate data on employment in renewable energy activities but does not offer guidance on what constitutes renewable energy employment. Similarly, national estimates of employment in renewable energy jobs, both official and unofficial, typically provide only limited detail on those activities deemed to be 'renewable energy' activities. This publication systematically identifies, for each renewable energy type, the main activities considered to be in scope of employment in renewable energy activities. These activities typically range from manufacturing of equipment specific to renewable energy; installation of renewable energy infrastructure; and the operation and maintenance of this infrastructure. This publication includes employment in government agencies and Non-Profit Institutions (NPIs) where this employment is predominantly motivated by the support of renewable energy.
Appropriate estimation methodologies are required to support the renewable energy job estimates. National statistical agencies do not typically collect information on renewable energy employment directly from survey respondents since the burden on survey respondents and on statistical agencies can be considerable, especially given the difficulties in identifying an appropriate list of employing businesses. These difficulties stem in large part from the fact that renewable energy is not a standard industry, but also from the great heterogeneity of businesses engaged in renewable energy activities. However, in recent years a number of countries have used a range of techniques to develop estimates of employment in renewable energy activities. The ABS has estimated employment in renewable energy activities by using two such techniques: firstly, by accessing information made publicly available on websites by renewable energy providers; and secondly by utilising employment factors. The latter technique uses information on installed capacities of renewable energy infrastructure, numbers of installations and specific employment factors. Employment factors indicate the number of annual direct FTE jobs created per physical unit of choice. The technique is described more fully in the Explanatory Notes.
The estimates contained in this publication represent the outcome of development work requiring the use of assumptions and synthetic estimates for some data components and are therefore considered experimental. There are known omissions from the published estimates, for example, it has not proven possible to estimate with confidence employment arising from the manufacture of renewable energy equipment, even though it is clear that a degree of such manufacturing takes place in Australia. Consequently it was decided to omit manufacturing of renewable energy equipment from the scope of this publication. As well, a number of decisions have been taken on conceptual matters that are likely to benefit from further discussion. For example, co-generation of energy (such as the use of black liquor in paper manufacturing) may constitute a form of renewable energy activity but has been deemed an activity that does not support employment. Over time, knowledge of renewable energy activities and related data will improve which will impact on published data outputs.
The ABS welcomes feedback on the estimates contained in this publication and expects that any future editions of this publication will benefit from the input of interested parties from industry, government, academia and the general community. Comments may be directed to <mark.lound@abs.gov.au>, the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or in hardcopy to:
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