Jobs in the sustainability and environmental sectors are highly sought after

There is a growing interest in the environment in the media and consumer world. The focus on sustainability in political election programs is growing, electric scooters and cars are no longer out of the streets and vegan cookbooks are like hot cakes over the counter.

In addition, on 22 April 2018, the (annual) Earth Day is celebrated worldwide, with positive attention being paid to the global issues surrounding nature, the environment and climate change. The trend to be consciously engaged with the environment also continues with the search for a job. Over the past three years, the number of searches for 'green' jobs has increased significantly. This is evident from its own data from Indeed. Green jobs mean jobs in the sustainability and environmental sectors.

Green search terms

Indeed analyzed their own data and looked specifically at 'green' search terms that were most often searched for in the period between 1 October 2014 and 1 October 2017. Based on this, Indeed compiled a top ten with the most frequently used search terms. These are in order of percentage that more is searched for on a specific search term in that specific period. For example, 1,325.8 percent more was searched for in the search term 'green nature' in October 2017 than in the previous three years.

Green and sustainable

The search term that has increased by far the most in popularity is 'green nature': in 2017, compared to 2014, more than sixteen times as often searched for this search combination. Although the term 'sustainability' was already very popular in 2014, it has almost quadrupled over the past three years and was searched for the most frequently in 2017 as well. A striking search term in the top five is 'internship sustainability', which suggests that young people are already working on a green / sustainable future during their studies. Another interesting observation is that a green job is popular within a wide range of experience levels and sectors: among others, traineeships, junior jobs, managerial positions and technical positions are being sought.

In practice, the increasing popularity of 'green' jobs is also clearly noticeable. For example, a profession as a forester has gained a lot of popularity lately. Moreover, the supply of jobs in, for example, the environmental sector and the sustainable energy sector has grown considerably in recent years.

Growing interest

Sander Poos, Managing Director Benelux of Indeed: "The general interest in the environment and sustainability is growing, as reflected in news about the food industry, politics and consumer behavior, etc. The data from Indeed show that this trend is also visible on the labor market. A possible explanation is that more and more companies are going to work 'green', because that question comes from the consumer, and that national attention naturally also inspires job seekers. "