Salaries at solar and wind companies are lower than you think.

The Obama administration is putting a lot of stock in the concept of "green jobs." In late February, Vice President Joe Biden threw his weight behind the green movement and the $20 billion in the stimulus package devoted to green investment. Biden claimed that people who earn $20 per hour prior to green job training can make as much as $50 per hour afterward.

Sounds great, right? But that scenario could be way off base. At least that's what a recent report from Good Jobs First says could happen if the creation of green jobs isn't backed by strong government regulation and oversight. GJF's report notes that it's not uncommon for workers in the green field to earn as little as $8.25 an hour. Wages at a number of wind and solar manufacturers are far lower than those at their more traditional counterparts—falling well below the income levels needed to support a single adult with one child.

Those numbers carry particular weight in considering how the green jobs movement is going to spur the U.S. economy, as a job that pays $18 an hour is reported to create twice the economic stimulus of a job that pays $9 an hour. Although Biden is proud to claim that a worker earning 20 bucks an hour can more than double his or her wage with some "green" training, he doesn't take into consideration those making far less.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average wage rate for production workers on manufacturing payrolls in durable goods industries is $18.88 an hour. But GJF's report shows that a majority of wind and solar companies it surveyed pay far less than that amount. Take United Solar Ovonic as an example. After receiving generous government subsidies amounting to $277,000 for every new job created, the company refused to meet the prevailing wage rule in Battle Creek, Mich., and pay $16 an hour. The company quickly started threatening to move its operations elsewhere. The city eventually backed down and allowed the company to pay its workers $14 an hour—70 percent of what it takes to sustain a family of four. It's also well below the $18.88 an hour average wage for production workers in the durable goods industry.

The green jobs initiative gets even stickier when it comes to unions—a major supporter of the Obama administration and his fellow Democrats. GJF's report noted that very few workers at wind and solar jobs were backed by collective bargaining agreements. And in at least two cases, the company leaders were found to have run aggressive anti-union campaigns, aided by union-busting consultants.

Unions have been in the spotlight recently, most notably for their contribution—as their critics like to point out—to the demise of Detroit's Big Three. As lawmakers and business leaders across the country battle over the Employee Free Choice Act (which would make it easier to unionize workplaces), that fight is likely to get quite heated. But as money from the stimulus plans starts to make its way to the coffers of green companies, the importance of the union in the nation's manufacturing heartland will flare up once again.