EU Solar Jobs Report 2025

For many years, solar has been Europe’s most powerful job engine, creating career opportunities in a future-proof technology, supporting communities through local employment, and driving the transition to a renewables-based energy system that underpins the EU’s energy security.

In 2024, the solar sector reached a record with 865,000 people working in the industry, despite a slowdown to 5% year-on-year growth, still outpacing the broader EU labour market's 0.8% growth.

2025, however, looks very different – and may mark a pivotal point. For the first time in a decade, the European solar sector is set to lose jobs. With solar market growth projected to turn negative this year largely due to the long-time solar sector’s job driver – the more job-intensive residential rooftop segment weakening –, the EU solar workforce is expected to contract by 5%, falling to around 825,000 jobs. This setback reflects both policy frameworks that fail to sufficiently attract solar investment and meet consumer demand in the post-energy crisis environment, and global production overcapacity, where European manufacturers face immense competitive pressure.

Yet, this is not necessarily the start of a story of decline. With the right policies for solar and storage, the European solar success story can continue. The medium-term outlook foresees employment recovering from 2026 onwards, reaching over 916,000 jobs by 2029, with the million-jobs milestone within reach after 2030, much later than originally hoped for.

This report sets out clear policy recommendations to keep the solar workforce on track to drive Europe’s decarbonisation goals, including but not limited to: establishing a European Solar Skills Intelligence Hub, securing stable and accessible funding for training, boosting vocational pathways, and ensuring inclusive access to solar careers.