Energy Department Releases New Data on Energy Workforce Employment
Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) applauded the U.S. Department of Energy’s new report on national energy employment and urged support of energy workforce training programs.
“This report reinforces findings from the Quadrennial Energy Review—we don’t have enough trained workers to fill the 1.5 million new energy jobs by 2030,” Sen. Cantwell said. “We must work to shrink the skills gap and fill the more than 300,000 expected new, good-paying energy jobs in 2017 alone, by investing in workforce training and apprenticeship programs.”
Commissioned by Secretary Ernest Moniz, the Energy Jobs Strategy Council (EJSC) today released the 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report, which analyzes current and anticipated energy sector employment needs. The report found that 6.4 million Americans now work in the traditional energy and energy efficiency industries, which added over 300,000 net new jobs in 2016—14 percent of the nation’s job growth. Nationwide, the energy industry is expected to add 198,000 energy efficiency jobs, 78,000 transmission jobs, 76,000 solar and wind jobs, and 81,000 jobs in the motor vehicles sector in 2017.