A prospective analysis of the employment impacts of energy efficiency retrofit investment in Portugal by 2020

Energy efficiency plays a significant role in increasing the security of energy supply and mitigating climate change. Although this role is indubitable, there is an ongoing discussion about the employment impacts of promoting energy efficiency measures, in particular of building retrofit investments. The purpose of this paper is to provide an estimation of the number of net jobs associated with the most common retrofit investment options in the building stock of Portugal. The examined investment options aim at improving the thermal properties of the building envelope and include the insulation of external walls and roof and the substitution of window frames and single glazed windows. The implementation of a methodological frameworkfor the assessment of employment benefits is based on Input-Output (I-O) analysis, providing consistent estimates for depicting the significant contribution of energy saving measures in the building sector (residential, private services and public services) in net employment generation.