Worldwide, employment in green energy grew 5 percent in 2015, to 8.1 million jobs, while the slump in oil prices that began in the fall of 2015 eliminated an estimated 350,000 oil jobs across the planet. Around the world, the solar industry was the largest renewable energy employer — jobs increased 11 percent between 2014 and 2015, to 2.8 million jobs. Most of those jobs — 1.7 million — are in China, because that’s where most solar panels are manufactured. In the European Union, a decline in manufacturing means that the region lost jobs, but high rates of solar installation in the United States kept solar employment high.
— source grist.org