Does promotion of renewable energy create employment? According to the European Wind Energy Association, the global wind energy sector could provide 2.3 million jobs by 2020. At present, according to the German Wind Energy Association, the German wind sector has contributed 40,000 new jobs to the German economy. In this month's contribution, in cooperation with Energie-Fakten, Prof Joachim Grawe discusses the complexity of such statement. He argues that both direct and indirect effects of energy techology options have to be taken into account, and concludes that the net employment effect is probably small and likely to be negative. It cannot be decisive as an argument for selection of an energy technology.