The team completed an analysis of the barriers and recommendations for green job creation using the visual aid of a word cloud. We constructed these word clouds using the responses to company interview questions. The responses from each company were compiled into one document for the barriers and recommendations, recurring words and themes were tallied, and then the number of occurrences for each word was placed into a word cloud
generator. The word cloud displays the most commonly appearing words from these responses and the colors of the words are arbitrary. Through the creation of these word clouds, there were some translation issues as some words used in Spanish were translated to multiple respective words in English. For example, “costos” in Spanish translates to cost but could also be
interpreted as money or funding. To minimize variability in translations, a single team member (K.P.) did all the transcriptions and translations of interviews conducted in Spanish.
4.4.1 Barriers to Green Job Creation
The barriers to green job creation that each company representative discussed are shown in Figure 8 below. The figure contains a word cloud with various obstacles including cost, environmental awareness, time, and educational programs.
Figure 8: Word Cloud Showing Barriers to Green Job Creation in Companies Interviewed.
To analyze the qualitative interview data on barriers to green job creation, we created a word cloud, Figure 8, which shows the reoccurring words that appear the most throughout the interviews. This method is significant in showing the number of occurrences of each word relative to each other based on size. The largest words in the word cloud represent the most commonly occurring words in the interview answers. In the analysis, we grouped related words, such as money, cost, and budget, to represent the same reoccurring theme. By grouping
synonyms, the word cloud limits error in cases where a single word in Spanish has several equivalent words when translated to English. The largest barrier to green job creation discussed at each company interview was the cost of creating green jobs. Each interviewee said that it was a significant investment for him/her to create green jobs at his/her company, and it was not always in the best interest of the company to budget for this investment. The companies could
not afford to pay for green job training programs. The initial cost to create green jobs is too great of an investment and as a result companies cannot afford to create green jobs within their budget.
Another obstacle at most of the companies was a lack of knowledge and environmental awareness in employees. It was suggested that the workers need to develop a consciousness of the environment and understand current and relevant issues and trends in the world with regards to green initiatives. Time and a lack of hours in the day were also problematic in the companies interviewed. It was mentioned that every hour spent training employees in green jobs was an hour that products were not being made. Another barrier is formulating the training programs and structuring education programs. Green jobs are new to companies and creating a training program catered to green jobs is foreign to most employers. Finally, the customers or clients of the companies go with a less expensive option than with the green and environmentally friendly business. Products made at a green company may cost more money. Below is a prioritized list of the barriers discussed previously. The barriers are listed in order of most frequently to least frequently appearing in the interview responses, which also corresponds to the size of the barrier in the word cloud. For example, cost is the most commonly recurring word in the barrier
responses and is ranked first on the prioritized list.
Prioritized List of Barriers:
1. Cost
2. Lack of Environmental Awareness 3. Lack of Education
4. Lack of Specialized Training Programs 5. Lack of Technical Skills
6. Lack of Structure of Environmental Management System 7. Lack of Customer and Market Demand
8. Lack of Supervision
4.4.2 Company Recommendations to the CICR
Figure 9 below shows a word cloud of the recommendations made by the interviewed companies for the CICR.
Figure 9: Word Cloud Showing Recommendations for Green Job Creation in Companies Interviewed.
The significance of our word cloud is to display the number of occurrences of each theme relative to the others. The input for the word cloud was the number of times a company
recommendation included the theme. The word cloud adds to our analysis by indicating common themes in the company recommendations as a whole in order to support our final
recommendations. The word cloud indicated that companies were most concerned with training and programs, especially by the CICR, to inform companies of strategies to develop green jobs and initiatives. Furthermore, companies also acknowledge the need for specific training as well as environmental awareness and suggest that managers, employees, contacts, international support, and the government are also focuses of the recommendations. This indicates that collaboration between public, private, governmental, and international organizations is a key component of company recommendations.
By analyzing the most common recommendations, we can infer that many representatives felt that the CICR should offer more green training programs. There appears to be a need for worker education in environmental awareness, energy efficiency, waste management and
recycling. The companies also suggested that government intervention and funding seem to be important factors in the recommendations made as well as the concepts of developing, reducing, and redesigning. Companies seemed to want the guidance of the CICR to develop green
initiatives. This includes helping to establish the primary framework for green jobs and training programs as well as educating managers in the benefits of these endeavors.