Employment effects of solar PV industry in China: A spreadsheet-based analytical model

Global concerns about environment and climate change have led to the rapid development of solar PV industry across the world. Meanwhile, the provision of heavy subsidies has motivated the discussion of social and economic benefits of this technology, mainly on the impacts on employment. Although there is abundant literature on this issue in developed countries, studies on developing countries, especially of China are rare. In this study, a spreadsheet-based analytical model is established for the estimation of employment effects of China's solar PV industry during the period of 2009-2015. Building on this model and using four indices and detailed data of sample companies, it is found that during the period of 2009-2015, whilst the number of jobs created by China's solar PV industry increased, the jobs/MW ratios and employment skewness of China's solar PV industry declined. The main policy implications are that the government should fully recognize the solar PV industry's role in China's employment, improve the implementation of existing solar PV policies, provide more financial support to solar PV projects, particularly to distributed solar PV projects, and enhance the education and training of solar PV professionals.