The industry “continues to create skilled, well-paying jobs at a really fast clip,” said Foundation President and Executive Director Andrea Luecke.

“For the third straight year, the solar work force grew 20% in the United States,” reports the Climate Progress blog. “According to the census, the industry added 35,052 jobs, elevating its grand total to 208,859. That builds on the 31,000 jobs added the year before, and 23,600 added the year before that.”

Solar installation alone employed 77% more people than coal mining, but the census also pointed to job growth in project development, sales, and distribution. Workers in solar businesses “find it easy to rise and be promoted, while wages continue to be competitive with similar industries,” Koronowski writes. While solar businesses are employing more women than they have in the past, the percentage of military veterans, African Americans, Latinos, and people of Asian/Pacific origin in the solar work force declined from 2014 to 2015.