With lawmakers moving forward on a bold new piece of climate legislation in the House, a green job boom seems to be on the horizon.

A report released last week finds that investing in a clean energy economy should help alleviate a soaring unemployment rate and improve job prospects across a wide range of sectors and experience levels.

The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (PERI) report focuses on job creation and the investment opportunities that stand to emerge in a clean energy economy.

The report concluded that blue collar workers would be among the biggest beneficiaries of a nationwide clean energy boost. Workers with "relatively low educational credentials" stand to gain the most. An estimated 870,000 of the predicted 1.7 million (net increase) jobs arising from the move to a clean energy economy will be accessible to workers with high school degrees or less.

In addition to generating new opportunities for blue collar workers, a clean energy economy is projected to bring about a drop in the overall unemployment rate and a raise in per capita earnings for current low-income workers.

The total bounty of a clean energy economy is projected to include a 300 percent improvement in job opportunities over those found in fossil fuel fields and a significant reduction in day-to-day living costs for members of low-income households.