According to a news release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least 3.1 million Americans are employed in green jobs, a sector that now accounts for 2.4 percent of the nation's total employment. The report also listed the nuclear power industry as with the most Green Goods and Services employment in the private electric power generation, with 35,800 jobs in 2010.
It was the first time the BLS released an official count of environmentally friendly jobs.
The inclusion of nuclear power in the report has caused some controversy over how the BLS classifies a "green" job.
The report describes a green job as one that is "output-based" and produces goods and services benefiting the environment or conserving natural resources, as well as ones that are "process-based" where where workers make a company more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.
Rick Clayton, chief of the division of administrative statistics and labor turnover at BLS, said a nuclear power plant is green because it produces energy without causing harmful greenhouse gases.
There were a total of 53,082 jobs in nuclear in 2010, so the 35,800 is 68% its total.
In comparison, the hydroelectric industry employed 7,045 people, with 53% counting as a green job. Wind, solar and other renewables employed 8,344 people in 2010, with 56% classified by the BLS as green.