Are you looking for a career path that will provide you with both stability and a handsome income? If so, you might want to consider pursuing a career within the “green” sector. According to a recent survey conducted by Reuters, which is referred to as the Carbon Salary Survey, the majority of those employed within the green sector are feeling quite comfortable about their job stability. Furthermore, the average worker within the field makes an attractive annual salary of $76,000 – and half of those participating in the Reuters poll reported receiving an annual bonus of about $11,000!

“Top tier salaries have increased over the past two years,” said Andy Cartland, who is the managing director at Acre Resources, in an article recently posted in the Business Insider. “We now see more jobs paying six figure salaries, particularly as climate change has started to pull in senior managers from other areas of business.”

Green workers employed in the United States are currently earning the highest salaries in the industry, with the average salary being $100,000. Those employed within the green sector in Australasia earned an average annual salary of $93,000 while those in Asia earned the least among those in the industry, with an annual average salary of just $41,500.

So far, the green sector appears to be a largely male-dominated area, with over ¾ of those responding to the Reuters poll being men. Those within the industry, however, maintain that it is starting to become more balanced among the sexes.

“In 2001, 90% of my clients and people you’d meet at conferences were male,” noted Lucy Mortimer, who is a global manager at brokers TFS Green, in the Business Insider article. “The market has changed considerably since then – half my team is female, and most broking firms and banks in carbon have women working for or leading the teams.”

Nonetheless, there does appear to be gender inequality in terms of income, as the survey found that men earned an average annual income of $79,000 while women earned an average annual income of $65,000. The gap between these two averages accounts for a staging 18% difference.

Those who are interested in finding employment within the green sector, however, are pleased to learn that there are ample opportunities throughout many parts of the world. 28% of green corporate headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, while 26% are located in North America and the rest of Europe accounts for 24% of the headquarters. 1% of green corporate headquarters can even be found in Africa, where the industry continues to grow.

“There have been noticeable increases in activity in South Africa, Nigeria and Mozambique,” said Rob Ashdown, who is a consultant at South Africa’s Merchantec Capital, in the Business Insider article.

Regardless of your educational background, jobs within the green sector appear to be quite satisfying as well. More than 75% of those responding to the Reuters poll responded that they were satisfied with their jobs and 93% of those who responded said they would recommend green jobs to others.

Of course, in order to get a job within this growing sector, you need to have a solid educational background, as 96% of those employed in the field have at least one degree. Oddly enough, you don’t necessarily need to have a degree that is related to the environment. In fact, those with an environment-related degree earned an annual average income of just less than $70,000, while those with more generalized degrees earned an average of about $85,000 per year. To learn more about degrees that can help you get started with a career in the green sector, visit the Top Colleges home page!