Green building is on the rise, outpacing overall construction in the U.S. and is expected to add more than 2.3 million jobs this year, according to a recent U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) study from Booz Allen Hamilton.

The green building industry contributed more than $134.3 billion in labor income to working Americans between 2011 and 2014. By 2018 green construction is forecasted to account for more than 3.3 million jobs, amounting to more than one-third of the entire U.S. construction sector and expected to generate $190.3 billion in labor earnings. The industry’s contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to reach $303.5 billion between 2015 and 2018.

LEED certified building construction projects are estimated to total $8.4 billion by 2018. In Massachusetts alone, the green building section is projected to gain 257,000 jobs between 2015 and 2018, and the sector is expected to contribute nearly $22 billion towards GDP.

“Green building is playing a massive role in the U.S. construction sector, the clean and efficient energy sector and the U.S. economy as a whole,” Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of the USGBC, said in a statement. “More than 2.3 million U.S. workers are taking home $134 billion annually in large part because of green building programs like LEED. Demand for green building will only continue to grow as individuals, businesses and institutions continue to prioritize sustainable approaches to the design, construction and operations of our built environment.”