Green Jobs: Bibliometric Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 7;20(4):2886. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042886.

Abstract

Among the visible effects as Sustainable Development (SD) transitions from theory into practice, there are Green Jobs (GJs). There are multiple variants in naming this phenomenon in the labor market. Among them are green collars, green employment, and sustainable employment, all indicating a profound inconsistency in the GJ definition. This article aims to identify keyword-specified areas around which the topic of GJs revolves in the scientific literature indexed in the Scopus database. The usage of two methods has achieved this goal. First is the Structured Literature Review (SLR) variation with queries, and it is used to explore the scientific database to determine GJ's definition consistency by the queries syntax. The second method is the search results analysis performed in the Scopus database online to identify the most cited publications and most contributing authors. Then the bibliometric analysis was performed to create bibliometric maps of the most critical keywords in VOSviewer software. The combination of those two approaches allowed this research to indicate the most influential research directions on GJs. The results are presented in graphical forms, and tables with main co-occurring keyword clusters were identified. GJs are a key part of green economy development, where green self-employment and green entrepreneurship play a pivotal role. The presented results can inspire other researchers who are looking for a research gap or describing the state of the art. Politicians and decision-makers can be influenced by the presented contextualization of green job's meaning in the labor market.

Keywords: green economy; green jobs; green labor market; sustainable development.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administrative Personnel*
  • Bibliometrics
  • Databases, Factual
  • Economic Development
  • Humans

Grants and funding

(A.S.) This article has been written within the framework of the PROM Programme for International Exchange of Doctoral Students and Academic Staff Contract No. PPI/PRO/2019/1/00049/U/00001. (Ł.J.K.) This project is financed by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz; Internal Research Grant title: “Green self-employment as a method of professional activation for the unemployed and economically inactive”, project no. B2211201000090.07, decision number 10/2021; total funding amount PLN 21,930.00.