According to a report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency solar employment is growing nearly 20 times faster than the average for the US economy. While all three of the major solar companies in the US lost a great deal of money last year and two are under investigation by the SEC the industry itself is growing more economically viable.

Falling material costs and renewed federal subsidies have made it more profitable than ever to be in the solar industry and as a result the workforce for the industry has expanded. In total more than 260,000 people work in the solar industry, an increase of 24% since 2016. The IREA report shows most of these jobs are in installation with manufacturing, project development, sales, and research-and-development rounding out the top 5 most common positions. The workforce for the industry is still dominated by men but that is changing. According to the IREA report women now hold 28% of solar jobs, a 50% increase from 2013.

Americans as a whole are growing more concerned with the effects of climate change and this concern has led to a strong desire for more clean energy options both in the commercial and industrial sectors. In an effort to meet this demand Elon Musk has recently made efforts to transform the solar sector. In November of last year Tesla bought out America’s largest provider of solar panels, SolarCity.

Since purchasing the company which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive helped found and run Musk has transformed the company dramatically. Responding to criticism that solar panels are unsightly upon the roofs of consumers homes Tesla has begun taking orders to provide solar roofing tiles on private homes. These projects are still dependent upon federal subsidies which were renewed in December of 2015 when the federal tax credits were set to expire.