A fierce, cold winter wind has been blowing into Minnesota, but here is the good news. Expanded weatherization assistance in the state has created a triple benefit – boosting state economic activity, reducing pollution and lowering energy bills for low- and moderate-income households (who are often the hardest hit by the economic downturn and slow recovery).
Investments in weatherization are a specific example of how the federal economic recovery act has worked to improve people’s lives and help the economy.
Through FY 2011, Minnesota will receive $132 million in additional federal weatherization assistance. Weatherization pays for energy efficiency improvements, including repairing or replacing aging and inefficient furnaces and installing better insulation. These upgrades permanently reduce heating and cooling bills for low-income family homes. By September, the recovery act funding increased the number of weatherized Minnesota homes nearly five fold.
A study by the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service found that every weatherization dollar spent in Minnesota creates $1.09 in economic activity, as the money circulates through the economy. “This heightened impact is likely attributable to the availability of manufacturers and suppliers of weatherization products in Minnesota and to the vast network of weatherization agencies throughout the state,” according to the report.
Further, the Minnesota Office of Energy Security estimates that weatherization efforts save an average of $304 a year per home. This helps families on the financial edge. More than half of the households benefiting from weatherization have annual incomes of $20,000 or less. A few hundred dollars makes a big difference in their budgets.
But there is an opportunity for these weatherization dollars to have an even greater impact. Similar to many job-creating efforts, weatherization assistance is being scrutinized to make sure that all Minnesotans benefit from these new jobs, including people of color and women.
The Office of Energy Security has published some demographic data on weatherization jobs by region, indicating that people of color and women are underrepresented in these new jobs. Overall, approximately 14 percent of Minnesota’s working-age population (18-64) are people of color and women make up roughly half of the state’s workforce. From April to August, the recovery act funding resulted in 1,562 new hires (full- and part-time work) in weatherization. Not all contractors reported demographic information, but based on information about those who did:
- The hiring rate for people of color in the seven-county metro area was 11 percent. In Greater Minnesota, the hiring rate for people of color ranged from a low of two percent in Northeast Minnesota to a high of 14 percent in Northwest Minnesota.
- The hiring rate for women in the seven-county Metro area was 6 percent. In Greater Minnesota, the hiring rate for women ranged from a low of seven percent in Southwest Minnesota to a high of 24 percent in Southeastern Minnesota.
HIRE Minnesota is working to improve hiring diversity in a broad range of occupations, including weatherization, “to ensure that public investments in infrastructure and renewable energy help lift people out of poverty, reduce racial disparities and contribute to healthier communities.” And RENEW, a collaborative project between the City of Minneapolis and Ramsey County Workforce Solutions, is targeting workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul to get more underrepresented communities ready for work in the green jobs field.
-Scott Russell and Leah Gardner
