The second annual US Energy and Employment Report (USEER) from the US Department of Energy (DOE) showed that in 2016, solar energy employed more people than the traditional coal, gas, and oil combined.
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/solar-employs-more-people-than-oil-coal-and-gas-combined-in-the-us/
Major energy sources and percent shares of U.S. electricity generation at utility-scale facilities in 2016
Natural gas = 33.8%
Coal = 30.4%
Nuclear = 19.7%
Renewables = 14.9%
Hydropower = 6.5%
Wind = 5.6%
Biomass = 1.5%
Solar = 0.9%
Geothermal = 0.4%
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
Coal, Natural Gas contribute more than 60% of the energy but provide less than 150K jobs. Solar does around 1% & has 373K jobs.
Can you imagine the amount of jobs created when in 10-15 years solar takes over from coal & natural gas ? This has to be the biggest employment opportunity that has ever come. No wonder China is massively investing in solar, they want to monopolize solar panel manufacture!
Additionally, when a stable/profitable form of energy storage becomes widely available, the number of jobs refitting the US electrical grid to decentralize from a "power plant model" could be in the millions.
