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US solar industry suffers a slash of 10,000 jobs in 2017

Solar panels, California, Massachusetts, US employment, solar tariffs
The loss is mainly due to slow installation growth in California and Massachusetts, observed an industry report

Employment within the US solar industry dropped 3.8% to 250,271 jobs in 2017 from 260,077 jobs in 2016. According to CNBC, the report emphasizes on factors such as decline in utility-scale and residential solar installations, and hesitation about solar tariffs on imported panels.

The industry firmly believes that increased panel pricing will largely affect workers in the industry while a minor portion of manufacturing will benefit from the hike.

Solar Foundation President Andrea Luecke, said in a statement, “After six years of rapid and steady growth, the solar industry faced headwinds that led to a dip in employment in 2017, including a slowdown in the pace of new solar installations.”

The Foundation carried out a survey which reports 86% of solar companies reveal tariff would severely affect their business; and 71% of companies have realised the negative impact from 2017 tariff, prior to Trump’s announcement.

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