Green jobs in the European Union countries – an empirical study

The article presents research results on the analysis of green jobs in the European Union countries with respect to selected indicators characterizing the member states. For the empirical analysis a regression model was applied. As a dependent variable a number of jobs in the renewable energy sector in 2012 per million inhabitants of the countries was used. In the linear regression model the explanatory variable was a share of expenditure on R&D in GDP [%]. Studies show that the increase in research and development expenditures have a real, measurable impact on the availability of green jobs in the EU countries. Research results were presented on the background of the strategy “Europe 2020”