The U.S. solar industry experienced a 13.2 percent employment growth in the past 12 months and now boasts just more than 119,000 Americans workers, according to a report from a nonprofit solar education and research organization.

Today's report from the Solar Foundation attributed this year's U.S. solar job growth to falling component prices, pro-solar state legislation and federal consumer tax incentives, like the solar investment tax credit, which boosted solar installations in the United States.

The Solar Foundation report, which was released on the same day as the Labor Department's October jobs report, also revised the group's 2011 employment estimates up from 100,237 to 105,145.

Solar Foundation officials noted the growth in the solar sector compared with a 2.3 percent overall economic growth rate in the United States over the same time period.

The latest solar job numbers were hailed by the main trade group for the solar industry, the Solar Energy Industries Association.

"The solar energy industry is creating jobs in America when we need them most," said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA.

Earlier this fall, SEIA released a market research report that estimated 3,200 megawatts of photovoltaic projects will be installed in the United States by the end of the year, which would represent a 71 percent increase compared with 2011 (Greenwire, Sept. 10).

From 2010 to 2011, the industry more than doubled the number of photovoltaic panels on homes, businesses and utility-scale arrays.

But SEIA has also warned of slower growth down the road. In its September report, SEIA attributed some drop-off in installations this year to the expiration of a key Treasury Department grant-in-lieu-of-tax-credit program that was not renewed at the end of last year despite a furious lobbying effort by the industry. SEIA has said a further slowdown could take place in 2017 if the investment tax credit is allowed to expire.

The ITC, which covers 30 percent of eligible project costs, is in place through 2016 under current law.

"The rapid growth of jobs in the solar industry clearly demonstrates that smart policies, including the federal investment tax credit, are putting Americans back to work," Resch said today. "This is what happens when government provides a stable policy environment -- the private industry does what it does best -- creates new jobs for Americans."

But other uncertainties also continue to hang over the U.S. solar sector. During the past year, a scandal surrounding solar panel maker Solyndra LLC has dominated political discussions about solar, and government investment in the green energy sector has at times been vilified on the presidential campaign trail. Meanwhile, the industry continues to sort its way through an escalating trade war with China over cheap solar imports.

And while the solar industry has seen overall job growth, SEIA can't claim to have contributed to those increases. The trade association has cut nearly a dozen jobs since February (Greenwire, Sept. 28).

When asked about the staff reductions at SEIA, an association spokeswoman said in September that they reflected "the current business cycle responding to some of the same competitive forces that the industry is seeing."