China Solar Manufacturing Cuts 87,000 Jobs in 2024 Despite Record Installations: IRENA

Despite record renewable energy installations and the highest employment levels ever recorded, the global clean energy transition has entered a new phase in which capacity growth no longer translates into proportional job creation. According to the Annual Review, part of IRENA’s 12th edition analytical work, this points to the emergence of a new phase in the energy transition, marked by one of the first slowdowns in renewable energy job growth despite continued global deployment expansion.

This can be reflected in the marginal 2.3% increase in renewable energy jobs in 2024—reaching 16.6 million globally—signals not a slowdown in deployment, but a structural shift in how renewable energy is being built, manufactured, and scaled. The trend has been partly driven by increasing automation across the renewable energy workforce, contributing to uneven employment outcomes that have persisted globally in recent years. 

It is also driven by a relatively lower number of renewable energy jobs reported in China in 2024 compared with 2023. Rising labour productivity and economies of scale have reduced job intensity, offsetting employment gains seen in other countries. This also shows the widening gap between China’s rapid capacity additions and employment growth across the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, and other energy transition equipment, amid intensifying price wars.

Emerging Economies See Opportunities for Employment Growth

The report cited Brazil as an example, where a rise in solar PV installations lifted renewable energy employment to 323,800 jobs. Pakistan, Germany, Türkiye, and Italy also ranked among the top ten, driven by strong growth in both distributed and utility-scale solar markets.

By contrast, Japan’s new capacity additions declined for another year in 2024, with IRENA estimating its renewable energy workforce at 95,000. Whereas in Southeast Asia’s solar manufacturing hubs remained major exporters in 2024, with countries like Viet Nam—the region’s largest producer—rising to sixth place globally.

IRENA’s employment factor calculations, which account for local manufacturing shares and varying labour intensities across utility-scale and rooftop solar installations in different supply chain segments, suggest that India may have had 304,340 solar PV jobs in 2024. This includes 127,230 jobs in rooftop solar and 177,110 in utility-scale solar. In addition, earlier estimates indicate that around 80,600 additional jobs are linked to the off-grid solar PV sector.

How do Chinese Companies Fare in Solar Manufacturing?

Citing examples of five leading Chinese solar manufacturing companies—JA Solar, Jinko Solar, Longi Green Energy, Tongwei, and Trina Solar, the report estimates a cut in their combined workforce by about 87,000 employees, or 31%, in 2024. This cut comes as they grappled with falling prices and steep financial losses. At the same time, employment data for 2024 by renewable energy technology show that solar photovoltaic (PV) remains in the vanguard, followed by liquid biofuels, hydropower, and wind.

With the increase in solar manufacturing, more machines will take over the role of humans. Reinforcing this argument, IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said, “Renewable energy deployment is booming, but the human side of the story is as important as the technological side. Governments must put people at the centre of their energy and climate objectives through trade and industrial policies that drive investments, build domestic capacity, and develop a skilled workforce along the supply chain."

Female Representation 

Another noteworthy point about renewable energy jobs is having gender parity. IRENA report also showed that women are significantly concentrated in administrative jobs, which account for 45% of female employment in renewable energy, and in technical positions not related to to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) – such as legal roles, where Women make up 36% of the workforce.

By contrast, women comprise only 28% of STEM-related roles (such as engineers, data scientists and technical specialists) and just 22% of medium-skilled jobs like solar installation or construction. At the highest levels of decision-making, women are even scarcer: 26% of middle managers are female, but women make up only 19% of senior managers or board members.