U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019i

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Acknowledgements & Appreciation
The 2019 U.S. Energy and Employment Report was produced with the generous
support of the following states, organizations and foundations.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

California Energy Commission
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Minnesota Department of Commerce and Department of Employment andEconomic Development
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Office of Energy
Programs
Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation
Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund
Advanced Energy Economy
Clean Energy Trust
Energy Foundation
Energy Storage Association
E4TheFuture
Energy Futures Initiative
E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs)
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The JPB Foundation
McKnight Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
National Association of State Energy Officials
Nuclear Energy Institute
The Solar Foundation

Peer review of the report and the underlying methodology was performed by:••

Dr. James Barrett, Visiting Fellow,
American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
Dr. Joel Yudken, Principal,
High Road Strategies, LLC

Data collection and research was managed by BW Research Partnership
Editing and design services were provided by MG Strategy & Designii

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

About
This work was prepared under a Memorandum of Understanding between the
Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the National Association of State Energy
Officials (NASEO) and a contract between EFI and BW Research Partnership. The
survey instrument and underlying methodology is identical to that used in the
primary data collected on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (OMB Control
No. 1910-5179) for the 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report and secondary
data from the United States Department of Labor’s Quarterly Census of
Employment and Wages for the second quarter of 2018. Neither EFI nor NASEO,
nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or theiremployees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liabilityor responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or any third party’s use or the
results of such use of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed,or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

Report Inquiries
For inquiries regarding this report, please contact:
David Ellis
Director, Communications and Policy Strategy
Energy Futures Initiative
Ddellis@energyfuturesinitiative.org
202-770-8804 (Cell)
202-688-0042 (0ffice)www.energyfuturesinitiative.org
Sandy Fazeli
Managing Director
National Association of State Energy Officials
sfazeli@naseo.org
703-299-8800 x 117
www.naseo.org

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Additional Analysis + Reports
The USEER data base includes detailed data for the 53 separate technologies
that comprise the five surveyed sectors. Each of these technologies is, inturn, divided into as many as seven industrial classifications. As a result, the
USEER data base can provide an in-depth view of the hiring difficulty, indemand occupations, and demographic composition of very specific portionsof the energy and energy efficiency workforce in each state or in specificcounties and, in some cases, portions of counties. In addition, the USEER
data base can provide year-to-year comparisons in specific sectors,
technologies, and industrial classifications at the state and county level.
For information about additional analysis and reports, please contact:
Energy Futures Initiative:
Jeanette Pablo
General Counsel and Senior Associate
Tel: 202-688-0048
Email: JMPablo@EnergyFuturesInitiative.org
National Association of State Energy Officials:
Sandy Fazeli
Managing Director
Tel: 703-299-8800 x 117
Email: SFazeli@NASEO.org

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table of Contents
Summary ............................................................................... 1
Fuels ..................................................................................... 14
Petroleum Fuels ............................................................................................................... 27
Coal Fuels .......................................................................................................................... 30
Natural Gas Fuels ............................................................................................................. 33
Nuclear Fuels .................................................................................................................... 36
Corn Ethanol Fuels ........................................................................................................... 38
Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels ............................................................ 41
Woody Biomass Fuels for Energy and Cellulosic Fuels ............................................... 44
Other Fuels ....................................................................................................................... 46

Electric Power Generation ................................................ 49
Solar Electric Power Generation .................................................................................... 63
Wind Electric Power Generation .................................................................................... 68
Combined Heat and Power Generation ........................................................................ 71
Hydroelectric Power Generation.................................................................................... 74
Coal Electric Power Generation ...................................................................................... 77
Natural Gas Electric Power Generation......................................................................... 80
Nuclear Electric Power Generation ................................................................................ 83
Oil Electric Power Generation ........................................................................................ 86
Biomass Electric Power Generation .............................................................................. 89
Other Electric Power Generation ................................................................................... 92
Electric Power Generation and Fuels Employment Crosscut ..................................... 95

Transmission, Distribution, and Storage ......................... 97
Natural Gas Industry Crosscut ..................................................................................... 114
Coal Industry Crosscut .................................................................................................. 118
Petroleum Industry Crosscut........................................................................................ 121
Nuclear Industry Crosscut ............................................................................................ 124
Storage Industry Crosscut............................................................................................. 126

Energy Efficiency .............................................................. 128
Motor Vehicles & Component Parts ..................................144v

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

List of Figures
Figure 1. Fuels Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018 ....................................................... 16
Figure 2. Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 2017-2018 ............. 16
Figure 3. Fuels Sector – Employment by Industry, Q2 2018........................................................... 20
Figure 4. Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 2017-2018 ............. 21
Figure 5. Fuels Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019 ......... 22
Figure 6. Fuels Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Detailed Technology (Q4 2018 - Q42019) ...................................................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 7. Fuels Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018......................................................... 23
Figure 8. Fuels Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ...................................................... 24
Figure 9. Petroleum Fuels – Employment by Industry .................................................................... 27
Figure 10. Petroleum Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ............................................................. 28
Figure 11. Petroleum Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry................................... 28
Figure 12. Coal Fuels – Employment by Industry ............................................................................. 30
Figure 13. Coal Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry........................................................................ 31
Figure 14. Coal Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ............................................. 31
Figure 15. Natural Gas Fuels – Employment by Industry ............................................................... 33
Figure 16. Natural Gas Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry........................................................... 34
Figure 17. Natural Gas Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ................................ 34
Figure 18. Nuclear Fuels – Employment by Industry ...................................................................... 36
Figure 19. Corn Ethanol Fuels – Employment by Industry ............................................................. 38
Figure 20. Corn Ethanol Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ........................................................ 39
Figure 21. Corn Ethanol Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry .............................. 39vi

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Figure 22. Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) — Employment
by Industry ............................................................................................................................................ 41
Figure 23. Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) – Expected
Employment Growth by Industry ....................................................................................................... 42
Figure 24. Woody Biomass Fuel for Energy and Cellulosic Biofuel – Employment by Industry 44
Figure 25. Other Fuels – Employment by Industry .......................................................................... 46
Figure 26. Other Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ..................................................................... 47
Figure 27. Other Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ........................................... 47
Figure 28. Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018 ................ 51
Figure 29. Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application, 2017-2018 ........................................................................................................................ 51
Figure 30. Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application, 2017-2018 ........................................................................................................................ 51
Figure 31. Change in Net Generation of Electricity by Energy Source (Thousand MWh), 20062018 ....................................................................................................................................................... 56
Figure 32. Electric Power Generation Sector — Employment by Industry, Q2 2018 .................. 57
Figure 33. Electric Power Generation Sector — Employment by Detailed Technology
Application, 2017-2018 ........................................................................................................................ 58
Figure 34. Electric Power Generation Sector — Employment by Detailed Technology
Application, 2017-2018 ........................................................................................................................ 58
Figure 35. Electric Power Generation Sector — Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018 ................ 59
Figure 36. Electric Power Generation Sector — Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q42018 – Q4 2019) .................................................................................................................................... 59
Figure 37. Electric Power Generation Sector — Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ............. 60
Figure 38. Solar Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry ....................................... 64
Figure 39. Majority-Time Solar Employees by Type of Project – 2018 .......................................... 64
Figure 40. Estimated Percentage of Solar Generation Installed .................................................... 64
Figure 41. Solar Electric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry ................................ 65
Figure 42. Solar Electric Power Generation — Expected Employment Growth by Industry ...... 66
Figure 43. Wind Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry Sector ........................... 68

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Figure 44. Wind Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry .................................. 69
Figure 45. Wind Electric Power Generation — Expected Employment Growth by Industry ...... 69
Figure 46. Combined Heat and Power Generation — Employment by Industry ........................ 71
Figure 47. Combined Heat and Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ..................... 72
Figure 48. Combined Heat and Power Generation — Expected Employment Growth byIndustry ................................................................................................................................................. 72
Figure 49. Hydroelectric Power Generation — Employment by Industry .................................... 74
Figure 50. Hydroelectric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry ............................... 75
Figure 51. Hydroelectric Power Generation — Expected Employment Growth by Industry ..... 75
Figure 52. Coal Electric Power Generation — Employment by Industry ...................................... 77
Figure 53. Coal Electric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry ................................. 78
Figure 54. Coal Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ......... 78
Figure 55. Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry ........................... 80
Figure 56. Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ...................... 81
Figure 57. Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry................................................................................................................................................................ 81
Figure 58. Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry .................................. 83
Figure 59. Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ............................. 84
Figure 60. Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ... 84
Figure 61. Oil Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry ........................................... 86
Figure 62. Oil Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ...................................... 87
Figure 63. Oil Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry ............ 87
Figure 64. Biomass Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry ................................. 89
Figure 65. Biomass Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ............................ 90
Figure 66. Biomass Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry .. 90
Figure 67. Other Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry...................................... 92
Figure 68. Other Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry ................................. 93viii

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Figure 69. Other Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth by Industry....... 93
Figure 70. TDS Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018 ....................................................... 99
Figure 71. TDS Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 2017-2018 ............. 99
Figure 72. TDS Sector – Employment by Industry Sectors, Q2 2015 - Q2 2018 ......................... 105
Figure 73. TDS Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology, 2018.......................................... 107
Figure 74. TDS Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019) ...... 108
Figure 75. TDS Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Detailed Technology (2018-2019) 108
Figure 76. TDS Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018 ....................................................... 109
Figure 77. TDS Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Technology, Q4 2018 .............................................. 110
Figure 78. TDS Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry .................................................................... 110
Figure 79. National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Natural Gas Jobs .................................. 117
Figure 80. National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Coal Jobs ............................................... 120
Figure 81. National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Petroleum Jobs .................................... 123
Figure 82. National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Nuclear Jobs ......................................... 125
Figure 83. National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Storage Jobs ......................................... 127
Figure 84. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018 .............................. 130
Figure 85. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology, 2017-2018 ......... 130
Figure 86. Energy Efficiency Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Major Industry (Q42018 – Q4 2019) .................................................................................................................................. 135
Figure 87. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Major Industry Sectors, Q2 2018 ......... 136
Figure 88. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application (Q22016 - Q2 2018) .................................................................................................................................. 137
Figure 89. Energy Efficiency Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018 ................................ 140
Figure 90. Energy Efficiency Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ............................. 141
Figure 91. Energy Efficiency Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Technology, Q4 2018 ........................ 141
Figure 92. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology,
2017-2018............................................................................................................................................ 146

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Figure 93. Motor Vehicle and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018.............................................................................................................................................................. 146
Figure 94. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Manufacturing Employment by
Detailed Technology Application, Q2 2018 ..................................................................................... 147
Figure 95. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019 ............................................................................................................ 151
Figure 96. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology,
Q2 2018 ............................................................................................................................................... 153
Figure 97. Parts Offered by Type of Fuel Used, Component Parts ............................................. 154
Figure 98. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Manufacturing Employment by
Detailed Technology Application, Q2 2018 ..................................................................................... 155
Figure 99. Fuel Economy Employment in Component Parts, Q2 2018 ....................................... 156
Figure 100. Revenue Attributable to Products that Increase Fuel Economy ............................. 157
Figure 101. Revenue Attributable to Products that Increase Fuel Economy by Primary Vehicle
Type...................................................................................................................................................... 157
Figure 102. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018.............................................................................................................................................................. 158
Figure 103. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4
2018 ..................................................................................................................................................... 159

xU.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

List of Tables
Table 1. Two-Digit NAICS Codes for Sectors Containing Energy Employment with Examples of
Their Component Industry Groups and Specific Industries .................................................................10
Table 2. USEER Energy Technologies Included in the Survey Instrument .........................................11
Table 3. Electric Power Generation Employment in the QCEW Compared to the USEER. .............12
Table 4. North Carolina Electric Power Generation Employment in the QCEW Compared to the
USEER. ...........................................................................................................................................................12
Table 5. Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2 2018 ... 17
Table 6. Fuels Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q2 2018 ...........18
Table 7. Fuels Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018.......................................24
Table 8. Fuels Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ...........25
Table 9. Fuels Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018 ...................................................................................26
Table 10. Petroleum Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018 .........................................................................29
Table 11. Coal Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018 ....................................................................................32
Table 12. Natural Gas Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018 .......................................................................35
Table 13. Nuclear Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..............................................................................37
Table 14. Corn Ethanol Fuels -- Demographics, Q4 2018 ....................................................................40
Table 15. Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) – Demographics,
Q4 2018 ........................................................................................................................................................43
Table 16. Woody Biomass Fuel for Energy and Cellulosic Biofuel – Demographics, Q4 2018 .......45
Table 17. Other Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..................................................................................48
Table 18. Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application
and Industry, Q2 2018 ................................................................................................................................52
Table 19. Electric Power Generation Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018........................................................................................................................................53
Table 20. Electric Power Generation Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ... 60

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Table 21. Electric Power Generation Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018........................................................................................................................................61
Table 22. Electric Power Generation Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018 ............................................62
Table 23. Solar Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..............................................67
Table 24. Wind Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..............................................70
Table 25 Combined Heat and Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..................................73
Table 26. Hydroelectric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 .............................................76
Table 27. Coal Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ...............................................79
Table 28. Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..................................82
Table 29. Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 .........................................85
Table 30. Oil Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ..................................................88
Table 31. Biomass Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 ........................................91
Table 32. Other Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018 .............................................94
Table 33. Electric Power Generation and Fuels Employment by Major Energy Technology
Application and Detailed Technology Application .................................................................................96
Table 34. TDS Sector – TDS Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2
2018 ........................................................................................................................................................... 101
Table 35. TDS Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ........ 102
Table 36. TDS Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018.................................... 111
Table 37. TDS Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018 ........ 112
Table 38. TDS Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018 ................................................................................ 113
Table 39. Natural Gas Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry,
Q2 2018 ..................................................................................................................................................... 115
Table 40. Coal Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2 2018.................................................................................................................................................................... 118
Table 41. Petroleum Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2
2018 ........................................................................................................................................................... 121
Table 42. Nuclear Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2
2018 ........................................................................................................................................................... 124

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019
Table 43. Storage Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application and Industry, Q2
2018 ........................................................................................................................................................... 126
Table 44. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018..................................................................................................................................... 131
Table 45. Energy Efficiency Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4
2018 ........................................................................................................................................................... 132
Table 46. Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018..................................................................................................................................... 139
Table 47. Energy Efficiency Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018............. 142
Table 48. Energy Efficiency – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018.................................................................................................................................................................... 142
Table 49. Energy Efficiency Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018 ......................................................... 143
Table 50. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018..................................................................................................................................... 149
Table 51. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry,
Q4 2018 ..................................................................................................................................................... 159
Table 52. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring
Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018............................................................................................................... 160
Table 53. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018 .................... 161

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Governors’ Introduction
On behalf of the states of Utah and Connecticut, we are delighted to introduce
the 2019 U.S. Energy and Employment Report. Produced by the Energy Futures
Initiative and the National Association of State Energy Officials, this seminal
study equips states and their partners with the data they need to advanceeffective, informed, and robust energy policies and programs.
As you read through the report, we encourage you to think about the story thedata tell about the communities where you live and work, as well
as about our nation as a whole.
To us, the statistics are clear: the energy economy is not only
growing, but evolving and thriving. Nationally, in 2018 the energy
economy expanded by more than 150,000 net new jobs to now
encompass 6.7 million people, representing nearly 5 percent of
the U.S. economy.

Gov. Gary Herbert

Through wise policy that promotes energy affordability andresilience across a diverse and expanding portfolio, last year
Utah continued to experience growth across major segmentsof our energy economy, including traditional and renewable
resources. Thanks to the diligent work of the Utah Governor’s
Office of Energy Development and my energy advisor,
Dr. Laura Nelson, Utah is now viewed as policy model forseveral U.S. states in advancing economic and environmental
Gov. Ned Lamont
outcomes through public-private partnerships, international
collaboration, research and development, education and stakeholder
engagement of urban and rural communities across the state.
Connecticut is a national clean energy leader because we have invested indeveloping a skilled, nimble workforce that delivers high-quality energy services.
We’ve built that pipeline of talent through educational partnerships, regional
collaboration, and robust program investments. Connecticut’s model proves thatenvironmental sustainability and economic development go hand-in-hand,and benefit all families and businesses in the Constitution State.
Thank you for supporting, reading, and sharing your reactions to this year’s U.S.
Energy and Employment Report.
Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah

Gov. Ned Lamont, Connecticutxiv

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Preface
EFI, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and NASEO, a nonprofit
association representing the 56 energy offices of the states, territories, andDistrict of Columbia, are pleased to release the 2019 USEER to provide a
consistent tool for states, trade associations, labor unions, and otherstakeholders to track changes in energy and energy-related employment
during a time of continued change in energy markets.
For many NASEO members, economic development and job creation provide
the underpinning for their energy planning and policy development
initiatives. Now in its fourth year of publication, the USEER offers a powerfultool for state policymakers to understand the impact of evolving energy
markets; to help prepare their communities, infrastructure, and workforce
for these changes; and to harness the economic and environmental benefits
that result.
The U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) was published in 2016 and2017 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) upon recommendation of the2015 first installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), “to reform
existing data collection systems to provide consistent and complete
definitions and quantification of energy jobs across all sectors of theeconomy.”1 Previous editions of the USEER had addressed several gaps inenergy employment data, including the following:•••business activities essential to the operation of traditional energy
companies and utilities, including coal, natural gas, nuclear, and others,classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
within the business activities of other sectors
jobs associated with the production of renewable energy such as wind,solar, and geothermal powerjobs associated with energy efficiency

DOE elected to not undertake a similar report for 2018 or 2019.

1

U.S. Department of Energy [DOE], Quadrennial Energy Review: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution
Infrastructure (Washington, D.C., 2015), 8-10,
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/07/f24/QER%20Full%20Report_TS%26D%20April%202015_0.pdf.

xvU.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

The 2018 and 2019 USEERs have been organized and implemented by the
Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the National Association of State Energy
Officials (NASEO) to provide continuity with the previous editions of the
USEER in data collection and accuracy in year-to-year comparisons.

Accordingly, the 2019 USEER relies on the identical survey instrument
developed by the DOE and approved by the Office of Management andBudget (OMB Control No. 1910-5179) for the 2017 USEER with the following
additions:•••differentiation of jobs in oil and gas pipeline construction
expansion of energy storage technologies
an energy and energy efficiency jobs wage data survey to be published asa separate report

The data collection for the 2019 USEER was timed to ensure meaningful yearto-year comparisons with previous reports. In addition, the following
organizational changes were made:••separate chapters for Fuels and Electric Power Generation to provide
greater detail on each subtechnology in these sectors
new crosscuts on the oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and energy storage industries
to provide data on their entire value chains

It is our hope that the 2019 USEER and future editions will be used to better
inform federal, state, and local policymakers; academic decision-makers; andthe private sector in developing integrated energy, security, economic
development, and workforce plans. This kind of integration is key tomaximizing the benefits of the nation’s abundant energy resources, rapid
pace of energy innovation, and dynamic energy markets. We further hopethat the data presented in these and future reports will help advance theunderstanding of the economics of emerging energy industries. Creating asingle and consistent measure of employment across the entire U.S. energy
system is critical to that understanding.

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 20191

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Key Findings
The 2019 USEER analyzes the following five sectors of the U.S. economy:
•
•
•
•
•

Fuels;
Electric Power Generation;
Transmission, Distribution and Storage;
Energy Efficiency; andMotor Vehicles.

The first three of these sectors make up the Traditional Energy sector.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of employer data collected in the fourth
quarter of 2018, the 2019 USEER finds that the Traditional Energy and Energy
Efficiency sectors in 2018 employed approximately 6.7 million Americans or 4.6
percent of a workforce of roughly 147 million. Employment in these sectors
increased in 2018 by 2.3 percent from the previous year, adding 151,700 net newjobs, nearly 7 percent of all new jobs nationwide.2
The Fuels sector employed 1,127,600, an increase of 52,000 or 4.8 percent in 2018.
••••

Petroleum fuels added the most jobs of any traditional energy sector,
with 33,500 new positions, an increase of 5.9 percent.
Natural gas extraction increased employment by 6.8 percent, adding
17,000 jobs.
Coal mining and fuels production gained 650 jobs or 0.9 percent.
Woody biomass jumped 5.5 percent, adding more than 1,700 jobs.

The Electric Power Generation sector employed 875,600 and declined by justunder one percent, losing almost 8,300 jobs. Job losses in solar, nuclear and coal
generation were partially offset by gains in natural gas, wind, and CHP.

2

Due to differing time frames for the USEER report, the reports on employment in 2015, 2017, and 2018 reference
BLS second quarter employment data, whereas the report on 2016 report uses BLS first quarter employment data.
Energy employment growth in the period between the second quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2018
represented 7 percent of all employment growth in the United States. Unless otherwise stated, all increases ordecreases described in this report for 2018 (whether whole numbers or percentages) are relative to 2017.

2

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

•

•
•

•

•

Solar energy firms employed 242,000 employees who spent the majorityof their time on solar.3 An additional 93,000 employees spent less thanhalf their time on solar-related work. The number of employees who
spend the majority of their time on solar declined by 3.2 percent or morethan 8,000 jobs in 2018.
There were an additional 111,000 workers employed at wind energy firms
across the nation in 2018, an increase of 3.5 percent or 3,700 jobs.
All natural gas employment in Electric Power Generation increased byover 5,200 (4.9 percent), for almost 113,000 jobs, reflecting that gas now
produces more electricity in the United States than any other fuel type.4
Advanced/low emissions natural gas, wind, and CHP generation were thefastest growing new sources, increasing employment by more than 4,500(7.0 percent), 3,700 (3.5 percent), and 2,000 (7.4 percent), respectively.
Coal-fired generation employment declined by more than 6,600 jobs, or
7.2 percent.

Transmission, Distribution, and Storage (TDS) employed more than 2.3 million
Americans, with just over 1 million working in retail trade (gasoline stations andfuel dealers). Excluding retail trade, this represents an increase of 33,000 new
jobs or 2.6 percent.
•••Utilities and construction were the two strongest industry sectors inTransmission, Distribution, and Storage, adding over 30,000 new jobs in2018.
Battery storage added over 9,500 new jobs for an 18% growth rate in2018.
Overall, 48 percent of respondent employers working in this sector
reported that a majority of their revenues come from grid modernizationor other utility-funded modernization projects, an increase of 10
percentage points over 2017.

Energy Efficiency employed 2.35 million Americans, in whole or in part, in thedesign, installation, and manufacture of Energy Efficiency products and services,adding 76,000 net jobs in 2018 (3.4 percent), an increase over the 67,000 jobs
added in 2017.5••

Almost 1.3 million Energy Efficiency jobs are in the construction industry,a 1.6 percent increase, or almost 21,000, from 2017.
79 percent of employees who work on Energy Efficiency in theconstruction sector report spending at least half their time on Energy
Efficiency-related work, virtually unchanged from the number reported

3

The Solar Foundation 2018 National Solar Jobs Census/BW Research Partnership
Text, charts, and tables in the 2019 report include revised 2017 employment totals for advanced and traditional
natural gas generation based on additional available data from the Energy Information Administration.
5
Energy Efficiency jobs are defined on Page 134.
4

3

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019••

last year (1.024 million) up from 797,500 in 2015 and 1.017 million in2016.
Energy Efficiency professional services added 35,000 jobs, an increase of
7.7 percent. Wholesale trade jobs in Energy Efficiency also expanded by
7.7 percent, adding almost 13,000 positions.
Manufacturing jobs, producing ENERGY STAR® certified products andenergy efficient building materials in the United States, increased by
6,000 jobs or 2 percent.

Motor Vehicles (including component parts) employed over 2.53 million workers,
excluding automobile dealerships and retailers, adding 74,000 jobs in 2018, an
increase of 3 percent.
•

•

•

•

In 2018, almost 254,000 employees worked with alternative fuelsvehicles, including natural gas, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, all-electric, andfuel cell/hydrogen vehicles, an increase of nearly 34,000 jobs.
Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric vehicles made up over 90 percentof this number, supporting 231,000 employees. The number of jobs
supported by hydrogen or fuel cell vehicles declined, while jobs in allother alternative vehicle technologies increased.
Over 486,000 employees of Motor Vehicles component parts companies
are now contributing to more fuel-efficient vehicles, an increase of
approximately 10,000 from 2017.
More than one-fifth (22 percent) of all firms involved in Motor Vehicle
component parts derive all their revenue from products that increase
fuel economy for Motor Vehicles, a slight decrease from 2017.

Cross Cuts
The 2019 USEER provides 5 cross cutting analyses that look at the interrelationsof jobs across the entire value chain of the natural gas, petroleum, coal andnuclear industries that were previously segregated in the Fuels, Electric Power
Generation, and Transmission, Distribution and Storage chapters. In addition,
another cross-cutting analysis looks at job comparisons between those ElectricPower Generation technologies that consume fuels and those that do not.
The natural gas industry employs 625,369 Americans.
•••

Utilities employed 176,167.
Mining and extraction employed 162,928.
Construction employed 113,339.

The coal industry employs 197,418 Americans.
•••

Mining and extraction employed 55,905.
Utilities employed 45,795.
Wholesale trade employed 43,327.

4

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

The petroleum industry employs 799,531 Americans.
•••

Mining and extraction employs 308,681.
Wholesale trade and distribution employs 170,945.
Manufacturing employs 155,267.

The nuclear industry employs 72,146 Americans.
•••

Utilities employ 46,809.
Professional services employ 14,374.
Manufacturing employ 4,913.

In combination, the Electric Power Generation and Fuels sectors directly
employed nearly 2 million workers in 2018, up 39,306, more than double theincrease the year prior (2 percent).
•••

In 2018, 59 percent, or 1.2 million, of these employees worked in
traditional coal, oil, and natural gas Electric Power Generation and Fuels
611,000 employees worked in zero emissions’ generation technologies,
including renewables and nuclear
Another 189,000 worked in low-carbon emission technologies, including
biofuels and advanced/low emissions gas.

Hiring and Demographics
Overall, firms covered by the survey anticipate roughly 4.6 percent employment
growth for 2019.
•
•
•
•
•

Energy Efficiency employers projected the highest growth rate in 2019(7.8 percent),
Electric Power Generation (7.1 percent);
Transmission, Distribution, and Storage (3.2 percent),
Fuels (3 percent),
Motor Vehicles (2.2 percent).

Hiring difficulty was highlighted by virtually all sectors as a growing problem.
Just under 77 percent of employers across these sectors (76.9 percent) reported
difficulty hiring qualified workers over the last 12 months, an increase of nearly 7
percentage points from 2017. Almost three-in-ten employers (29 percent) noted
it was very difficult (26 percent in 2017).
••

Among construction employers in Energy Efficiency, one of the largest
surveyed sectors with over 1.3 million workers, a majority (52%) of
employers reported that it was very difficult to hire new employees. This
sector also predicted over 8% growth in 2019.
Lack of experience, training, or technical skills was almost universallycited as the top reason for hiring difficulty by employers across all five5

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

surveyed sectors. The need for technical training and certifications was
also frequently cited, implying the need for expanded investments inworkforce training and closer coordination between employers and theworkforce training system.
Demographically, the surveyed sectors fluctuate above and below national
averages.
•

•

•
•

•

Women are a smaller portion of the workforce in these sectors, ranging
from 23 percent to 33 percent, compared to the overall economy, where
women make up 47 percent of the workforce.
However, two of these energy sectors—Electric Power Generation andTransmission, Distribution and Storage—are more racially diverse than
the national workforce as a whole, at 31% and 30%, compared to thenational average of 22%. The other three surveyed sectors—Fuels, Energy
Efficiency, and Motor Vehicles—are each at 22%. This is, in part, becauseof the increased self-identification of employees belonging to “2 or moreraces.”
Veterans comprise from eight to 11 percent of these sectors—higher
than the national average of 6 percent.
Between 14 percent and 23 percent of this workforce is 55 years of age
or older, compared to the national average of 23 percent; this proportionis significantly lower in Electric Power Generation and Energy Efficiency.
Unionization rates for TDS, Energy Efficiency, and Motor Vehicles areequivalent to or exceed the national average, while Fuels and ElectricPower Generation are below.

Conclusion
The year 2018 marked another year in the evolution of the U.S. energy system,
one in which market forces, technology development and maturation, tax policy,
and declining federal regulation (countered by increased regulation in somestates) affected the changing profile of our energy workforce. In spite of one of
the highest levels of employment in recent U.S. history, the traditional energy
and energy efficiency sectors continued to outperform the economy as a whole,adding 152,000 new jobs.
Certain long-term trends accelerated, such as the continuing growth of thenatural gas electric power generation and wind workforces, as their costadvantage pushed out older coal-fired units. However, the stability in coal EPG
seen in 2017 gave way to continued declines with the loss of almost 7,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, coal fuel jobs grew slightly, adding 650 jobs.
In the Fuels industry overall, oil and gas production added the most new jobs inthe traditional energy sectors as efficiencies and increased prices brought
thousands of workers back into the oil and gas fields of Texas, Oklahoma, North

6

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Dakota, and Pennsylvania. Employment in oil and gas extraction and support
services is at its highest level since its recent high in the fall of 2014.
Meanwhile, the shift in technologies continued to play out in EPG with solar
employment declining for the second year in a row despite adding an additional
11.06 gigawatts of capacity. This decline was concentrated in a handful ofstates—California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Arizona. Other
technologies that continued to register growth included CHP and smaller
renewables such as geothermal. Nuclear EPG avoided potential closures inIllinois and New York, but employment declined slightly, losing 1500 jobs.
Investments in energy infrastructure continued to grow in 2018 with the numberof construction companies reporting a majority of their revenues coming fromutility investments increasing with an accompanying dramatic increase inconstruction jobs. Battery storage jobs experienced another significant increase,signaling the new importance of storage in a grid that relies more on distributed
sources of generation.
Energy Efficiency employment continued its steady growth, even in a highemployment environment, challenged by the toughest hiring climate found in
the USEER survey. Construction firms employ the majority of Energy Efficiency
employees and added over 21,000 jobs despite a majority of those employers
saying it was very difficult to do so. The professional services sector of Energy
Efficiency expanded by 35,000 personnel and now employs almost a half million
Americans.
Alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles employment experienced a significant
rebound from a year earlier adding 34,000 jobs, driven by release of the Tesla
Model 3. However, the discontinuation of the Chevrolet Volt and a 35 percent
increase in domestic sales of foreign manufactured alternative fuels vehicles in2018 provide headwinds for future job growth. Overall, the Motor Vehicleindustry had a banner year, increasing employment in 2018 by 74,000 jobs, twoand one half times the increase in 2017.
Finally, the 2019 USEER will provide, in a separate report, comprehensive wage
data on 79 different occupations throughout the five surveyed sectors. This
report, to be issued in the second quarter of 2019 will allow for comparisons ofwage and benefit levels by technology and geography throughout the energy,
energy efficiency, and motor vehicles sectors.

7

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “We are in the middle of an
historic transition of the energy sector.”
Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDAThe New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA)
mission is to “advance innovative energy solutions in ways that improve New
York's economy and environment.” Providing significant choices and opportunities
for New Yorkers to pursue their own clean energy choices is integral to thismission and advancing the clean energy economy.
For the last three years NYSERDA has funded the collection of clean energy jobs
data to facilitate that mission.
This New York data is an
important component of the2019 USEER.
Alicia Barton, President and CEO,NYSERDA, spoke about theimportance of jobs data to herorganization’s business, “We arein the middle of an historictransition of the energy sector.
Policy makers in our state rely onjobs data to correlate meaningfulprogress towards our clean
energy goals with sustainableeconomic growth opportunities
for the benefit of all New Yorkers.

Installers from the Radiant Store in Troy, NY get a roof readyfor solar thermal. (Photo courtesy: NYSERDA)“We have seen tangible outcomes already. The insights we gained on the hiring
difficulties in various energy subsectors from this data have led to our investmentof $70 million in workforce training programs in our state. This, in turn, has led to
employment that changes lives and drives economic growth that ripples
throughout the economy from energy efficiency investments.
“One of our proudest accomplishments has been to target our workforce
development systems to fulfill our agency’s mission. Since energy efficiency job
growth has been outpacing the economy as a whole, this has been a win-win for
New Yorkers, our economy and our environment.”

8

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Methodology
The U.S. Energy and Employment Report is based on a 15-minute, supplemental
survey10 of approximately 30,000 employers that enriches the employment data
published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in its Quarterly Census on
Employment and Wages (QCEW). The QCEW is compiled by BLS from data
provided by employers, who must report the monthly employment and thequarterly wages for all workers covered by unemployment insurance at either thestate or federal level. BLS allocates these employment figures across 1,057
industry subsectors, according to each firm’s primary business focus under the
North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS system wasestablished in 1997 and is used in the United States, Canada, and Mexico todescribe their respective industries and businesses. Examples of major industrial
sectors in the NAICS include Mining, Quarrying and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS
Sector 21); Utilities (NAICS Sector 22); Manufacturing (NAICS Sector 31-33); andProfessional, Scientific and Technical Services (NAICS Sector 54).
Each of the major industrial sectors in the NAICS is refined into subsectors andthen into 4-digit codes for industry groups (such as Electric Power Generation,
Transmission and Distribution – NAICS 2211) and further into 6-digit codes for
specific industries (such as Solar Electric Power Generation – NAICS 221114). The
QCEW classifies over 96 percent of the American workforce under this system.
Among the workers excluded are some agricultural workers and workers whoare sole proprietorships. For more information on the QCEW and the NAICS,
please refer to their official websites at the U.S. Census Bureau, for NAICS,11 andat the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the QCEW.12
In order to achieve a deeper understanding of employment in any sector of the
U.S. workforce, economists and statisticians have made use of supplemental
surveys designed to ask specific questions of employers in targeted subsectorsof the QCEW data. The USEER survey was created to gather additional data on
the employers that are engaged in the energy sector, including the production,transmission, distribution, and consumption of energy in all its many forms. The
USEER divides this employment into five sectors: Fuels; Electric Power
Generation; Transmission, Distribution, and Storage; Energy Efficiency; andMotor Vehicles.

10

The supplemental survey is included in Appendix B in this report.
NAICS, www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/
12
QCEW, www.bls.gov/cew/
119

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Employment in each of these five sectors is not assigned to a discrete set of
NAICS subsectors. Instead, it is spread across 186 of them, or approximately 18
percent of the total. Some of these subsectors are 100 percent energy-related,while others are only partially composed of energy employment. In addition, insome of these subsectors, employees are spending 100 percent of their time onenergy-related work, while in others a given employee may spend 50 percent of
his/her time on energy-related tasks and the balance on something entirely
different. The USEER supplemental survey provides solutions to these data gaps.
Take, for instance, the example of construction employees who are employed byan outside contractor, but whose work takes place 365 days a year on thelocation of a nuclear power plant. Under the QCEW, such employees arecounted as construction electricians, laborers, and pipefitters – without any
specific relationship to the nuclear power plant to whose operations they are
essential. Through its survey of the construction industry, the USEER determines
how many employees of construction companies are actually involved in the
production, transmission, distribution, and efficient use of energy. In thisparticular case, the USEER reassigns them to the nuclear generating sector.
Without the USEER survey, we would not be able to determine that over 1.9
million construction laborers are employed by our country’s energy businesses.
As mentioned, the USEER survey is administered annually to approximately
30,000 businesses, according to a stratified random sampling of businesses
classified in 186 different NAICS industry codes at the six-digit level.
These detailed NAICS codes are subsets of seven two-digit codes for broad
industry sectors.

Table 1.
Two-Digit NAICS Codes for Sectors Containing Energy Employment with
Examples of Their Component Industry Groups and Specific Industries
Agriculture

Mining,Quarrying
and Oil & Gas
Extraction

NAICS 11NAICS 214-Digit1133

ExampleLogging

NAICS

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professional
Services

NAICS 22NAICS 23NAICS 31-33

NAICS 42NAICS 54

2111

2211

2371

3241 Petroleum

4236

5411

Oil & Gas

Electric

Utility System

and CoalHousehold

Legal Services

Extraction

Power

Construction

Products

Appliances

Manufacturingand Electric

Utilities

SectorCodefor
Industry

Generation,

Group

Transmission

and

and

Electronic

Distribution

Goods
Merchant
Wholesalers

10U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 20196-Digit

111150212112221114237130333611424710541330

ExampleCorn

Bituminous

Solar ElectricPower andTurbines andPetroleum

Engineeringfor

Farming

Coal

Power

Communica-

TurbineBulk Stations

Services

Specific

Underground

Generation

tion Line andGenerator Set

andIndustry

MiningRelatedUnits

Terminals

Structures

Manufacturing

Construction

The survey questions each of these employers about their employment in 53
different energy, energy efficiency, or motor vehicle technologies.

Table 2.
USEER Energy Technologies Included in the Survey Instrumentwater

As the earlier example of the nuclear power and construction industry illustrates,
many employees whose jobs are a direct and essential part of the U.S. energy
system are not classified as such under the QCEW. This fact is not a shortcomingof the QCEW, simply a data gap that must be addressed to create an accurate
picture of the size of the U.S. energy workforce, the employment and skills needsof its employers, and an understanding of its demographic makeup.
The evolution of American business models and the growth of new technologies
has also contributed to the complexity of this problem. Vertically integrated
companies have given way to specialty companies whose supply chains would
once have been owned by a single entity. As a result, the direct employment
relationship of such companies is lost.
New technologies frequently lead to new business models. Wind and solar
generation are an excellent example, in that few generation projects are built bydirect employees of utilities, under which most electric power generation
employment is classified in QCEW. Consequently, understanding employment in
new technology sectors requires a supplemental survey to understand which of
the construction and professional services jobs, for instance, are actually electric
power generation jobs.

11

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

The two tables below show how the problem of undercounting in these sectors issolved through administration of the USEER supplemental survey. Table 3 shows
how different jobs were counted under Electric Power Generation in the 3rd
Quarter of 2018 under the QCEW on a national level, as compared to the numbers
reported by the 2019 USEER, which surveyed employers in that same quarter todetermine how many construction, professional, and wholesale trade employees
were actually working on Electric Power Generation but not as Utility employees.

Table 3.
Electric Power Generation Employment
in the QCEW Compared to the USEER.
Fuel Source

QCEW-BLS

2019 USEER

Fossil Fuels

105,296

211,469

Nuclear46,80962,987

Wind

6,231

111,166

Solar

3,295

242,343 (93,000)*

CHP

1,673

29,245

Hydro

17,48066,448

Geothermal

1,116

8,526

Biomass

2,029

12,976*93,000 additional employees in solar spend less than 50 percent of their time on solar-related tasks.

Table 4. illustrates this same problem at the state level, in this case North
Carolina. The state problem is further complicated by federal privacy rules thatprohibit the release of data where the number of employers is too few tomaintain the confidentiality of their responses. Consequently, the QCEW isunable to report on multiple generation technologies in that state, whereas the
USEER reports on all but one. Neither the QCEW nor the USEER had adequate
responses for CHP generation at the state level.

Table 4.
North Carolina Electric Power Generation Employment
in the QCEW Compared to the USEER.
Fuel Source

QCEW-BLS

2019 USEER

Fossil Fuels
Nuclear
Wind
Solar
CHP

n/a
n/a
n/a
436
n/a

5,365
1,645
908
6,719 (2,193)*
n/a

Hydro
Geothermal
Biomass

106
n/a
49

578
364
1,531

*Parentheses include additional solar employees who spend less than 50 percent of their time on solar

12

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Survey Content
The survey itself covers many other topics in addition to asking how many of afirm’s employees work in one of the 53 technologies. The survey is administeredby phone and on-line and asks the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Employment numbers
Employer hiring expectations for the next 12 months
Hiring difficulty by technology and industrial classification over the lastyear
High demand jobs and skills gaps
Workforce demographics by race, ethnicity, gender, age, and veteranstatusGeographic location by state, county, congressional and legislative
districts, and metropolitan statistical area of each technology andindustrial classifications

Sectors
Prior editions of the USEER broke down the energy-related economy into four
sectors: Fuels and Electric Power Generation; Transmission, Distribution, andStorage; Energy Efficiency; and Motor Vehicles. The 2019 USEER divides Fuels
and Electric Power Generation into separate sectors, each with its own chapter,so this report now discusses the energy-related economy in terms of fivesectors. In addition, the 2019 USEER has added several crosscutting sections
that examine the relationship between aspects of these sectors and of some of
the technologies that cut across several of them. For instance, the 2019 USEER
contains a crosscut on the natural gas and oil industries, showing that theirworkforces take part in the Fuels, Electric Power Generation, and Transmission,
Distribution, and Storage sectors. The 2019 USEER also contrasts the jobs inElectric Power Generation sector that require fuels with the jobs in that sector
that do not.
As in the past, Energy Efficiency is largely, although not entirely, defined bystandards arising from the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program. For a more complete
definition of Energy Efficiency jobs, see the introduction to the Energy Efficiency
chapter.
Finally, the 2019 USEER again includes a chapter on the Motor Vehicle industry.
Motor Vehicles consume 28 percent of all energy used in the United States in
2019. Consequently, it is important to continue the examination of how fuelefficiency and new technologies including electrification and fuel cells areaffecting employment in that industry.
To read the USEER 2019 Supplemental Survey and for a complete technicaldiscussion of the survey methodology, please see Appendix A and Appendix B,
respectively.

13

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 201914

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Fuels
Fuels employment encompasses work related to fuel extraction, mining,and processing, including petroleum refineries and firms that support
coal mining, oil, and gas field machinery manufacturing. Workers acrossboth the forestry and agriculture sectors who support fuel production
with corn ethanol, biodiesels, and fuel wood are also included in the fuelemployment data.

TRENDS•2018 Job Gain. In 2018, the Fuels sector grew
by approximately 52,000 jobs, or nearly 5
percent for a total of 1,127,553 jobs.

•

Oil and Gas Recovery. Oil and natural gas
employers added the most new jobs, nearly
51,000, employing 603,000 and 271,000
respectively.

•

Coal Growth. Coal jobs increased by 650
jobs, totaling about 74,800.

•

Biofuels. Woody biomass added 1,800 jobs,
while corn ethanol also increased.

•2019 Expectations. Employers in the Fuels
sector anticipate over 3 percent job growthin 2019, with most of the increase expectedin oil and natural gas.

15

4.9%
Overall Fuels jobs
growth in 2018

3.0%
Fuels employers predict
3% job growth in 2019

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF EMPLOYMENT
Figure 1.
Fuels Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018
527,844(+41,122)

Mining and Extraction
242,584 (+4,951)

Manufacturing

165,801 (+6,263)

Professional and Business

135,251 (-2,629)

Wholesale Trade

35,948 (+1,961)

Agriculture and Forestry

18,066 (+731)

Construction

2,060 (-44)

Other
0

100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000
2018

2017

Figure 2.
Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 20172018
Petroleum
270,626(+17,285)

Natural Gas
Coal

74,831 (+651)

Other

48,410 (-1,021)

Corn Ethanol

35,055 (+534)

Woody Biomass

33,166 +1,738)

Other Ethanol

20,074 (-9)

Other Biofuels

18,414 (0)Other Fossil Fuel

15,007 (-530)

Nuclear Fuel

9,159 (+197)-

602,810(+33,511)

100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000
2018

16

2017

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

KEY TAKEAWAYS••

The major growth industry sector in Fuels was mining and extraction,
which added 41,000 new jobs in 2018, reflecting the growth of oil andnatural gas production.
Fuels production employment in the United States includes coal,petroleum, natural gas, corn ethanol and a variety of other biofuels,
nuclear fuel, and others.

Table 5.
Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018
Total

Agriculture

Mining +Extraction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professional
Services

Coal

74,831--

55,905

10,194

1,007

7,700

Petroleum

602,810--308,681

149,142

58,622

66,947Natural Gas

270,626--

162,928

44,44429,04534,037

15,007

--

--

2,923

6,870

5,103

Corn Ethanol

35,055

15,795

--

9,795

6,553

2,801

Other Ethanol

20,074

2,407

--

2,751

5,282

9,577

Woody Biomass

33,166

17,747

--

4,549

1,005

9,822

Other Biofuels

18,414

--

--

1,013

1,610

15,762

Nuclear Fuel

9,159

--

330

3,038

909

4,883

Other

48,410----14,737

24,348

9,169

TOTAL

1,127,552

35,949527,844242,586

135,251

165,801

Other Fossil
Fuel

17

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HIRING DIFFICULTY•••

53 percent of mining and extraction employers in fuels reported that it
was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees. 16 percent
reported it was very difficult.
76 percent of manufacturing employers reported that it was either
somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees.
89 percent of professional and business services employers in fuels
reported that it was either difficult or somewhat difficult to hire new
employees.

HIGHEST-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS IN FUELSWith significant growth in 2018 and predicted growth of 3 percent in 2019, fuels
employers have identified below the occupations that each industry sector ishaving the greatest difficulty in filling.

Table 6.
Fuels Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry,
Q4 2018
Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Technicians orTechnicians ormechanicalmechanicalsupport (45%)

support (46%)

Electrician/construction
laborers (21%)

Drivers/
dispatchers (22%)

Drivers/

Electrician/dispatchers

construction(17%)

laborers (21%)

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution, andTransport

Professionaland Business
Services

Other

Engineers/

Technicians orscientists

mechanical(63%)

support (89%)

Sales, marketing,Technicians or

Drivers/

or customer

mechanicaldispatchersservice (28%)

support (13%)(22%)

Electrician/Electrician/construction

construction

laborers (13%)

laborers (22%)

Drivers/
dispatchers (39%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (22%)

18

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “We are at a criticalinflection point in Pennsylvania.”
Denise Brinley, Executive Director, Governor’s Office of Energy, Pennsylvania

According to USEER data, Pennsylvania has added 6200 jobs in natural gas
extraction and electric power generation in the last two years. Currently, almost
17,000 Pennsylvanians are employed in these two sectors.
As Denise Brinley, Executive Director of the Governor’s
Office of Energy in Pennsylvania, observed, “We are at a
critical inflection point in Pennsylvania because of thevolume of natural gas, the network of pipelines being built,
and the importance of climate change. Simultaneously, we
have had 14 coal plants with 6,000 MWs of capacity close
since 2010. Nuclear power plants produce approximately
40% of the state’s baseload electricity, and some are
beginning to struggle financially, in part because of the low cost of natural gas.
Every form of energy in our state is experiencing a transition.
“Natural gas has provided us with three primary waves of employment. The firstwas initiated in 2007 with natural gas drilling operations. The second is occurring
now and is related to the construction of pipelines. We are now exploring thethird, most sustainable future phase — how we can use our natural gas andliquids as a low-cost fuel and feedstock for manufacturers right here in
Pennsylvania, which will help spur job creation. We currently export 80% of our
natural gas and 100% of our ethane, and we would very much like to change thatdynamic.
“We’re also undergoing several other promising transitions in our energy
economy. For example, Governor Wolf calls for emissions’ reduction targets of
26% by 2025 and 80% by 2050.”“We have a great example in Chester, Pennsylvania, where the construction of apipeline to the Kimberly-Clark paper mill will result in the replacement of its coalfired boiler with natural gas, making the facility economically more competitive
while also reducing carbon emissions.
“We are also the first state to publish “energy scenarios,” where we’ve postulated
that we harness opportunities with natural gas to the benefit of the entire state
economy while managing our emissions’ reductions through a combination ofcarbon pricing and carbon capture and sequestration. Our energy diversity is ourstrength.”

19

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Introduction
The Fuels sector employed 1,127,553 workers in 2018, compared to the previous
year’s level of almost 1,075,000 jobs. This represents a jump in employment ofnearly 5 percent. Oil and gas extraction and support services reached its recent
peak employment in the fall of 2014 with 541,000 jobs, while coal mining andextraction reached its recent peak in 2012 with just under 90,000 jobs. In thesecond quarter of 2018, these comparable BLS employment figures were at
471,609 and 55,905 respectively.13

Figure 3.
Fuels Sector – Employment by Industry, Q2 2018
523,054
527,844242,584

18,066
M
an
uf
ac
tu
rin
g
W
ho
le
sa
Pr
le
of
Tr
es
ad
si
on
e
al
an
d
Bu
si
ne
ss

Co
ns
tr
uc
tio
n

Ex
tr
ac
tio
n

an
d
M
in
in
g

Ag
ric
ul
tu
re

an
d

Fo
re
st
ry

35,948

165,801

2,060
O
th
er

135,251

As shown in Figure 4, the 2019 USEER found large increases in 2018 for both
petroleum production jobs (more than 33,000 additional jobs, for a total of602,810 jobs) and natural gas production jobs (more than 17,000 additional jobs,
for a total of 270,626 jobs). Overall, employers in the Fuels sector project to see
employment increase by 3 percent in 2019.

13

Job figures from BLS QCEW data, not USEER extrapolated employment, since comparable USEER data does notexist for 2012 and 2014.

20

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 4.
Fuels Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 20172018
Other

48,410 (-1,021)

Nuclear Fuel

9,159 (+197)

Other Biofuels

18,414 (0)Woody Biomass

33,166 (+1,738)

Other Ethanol

20,074 (-9)

Corn Ethanol

35,055 (+534)

Other Fossil Fuel

15,007 (-530)
270,626(+17,285)

Natural Gas

602,810(+33,511)

Petroleum
74,831 (+651)

Coal-

100,000

200,000

300,000

2018

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,0002017

Manufacturing employers in the Fuels sector expect an increase in employmentof over 4 percent in 2019, while professional business services project toincrease employment by over 5 percent during the same time period, as shownin Figure 5.

21

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 5.
Fuels Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4
2019
5.4%
4.3%

2.2%

3.8%

2.0%

1.8%

th
O

Bu

si

er

…
ne

ad
Tr
le

al

sa

on

le
Pr

M

of

es

si

ho
W

in

ss

e,

n
uc
tr
ns

uf
an
M

Co

ac

tu

ac
tr
Ex
&
g
in

tio

rin

tio

st
re
Fo
d
an
re
tu
ul
Ag

ric

g

n

ry

…

0.0%

Figure 6.
Fuels Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Detailed Technology (Q42018 - Q4 2019)
6.0%
4.9%

3.0%
2.3%

Coal

Oil

2.4%

2.7%

2.2%

Natural
Other
Corn
Gas
Fossil Fuel Ethanol

22

2.3%

Other
Ethanol

1.8%

Woody
Biomass

Other
Biofuel

1.5%

NuclearOther

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

FUELS – WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS
Figure 7.
Fuels Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018
4.0%

13.5%

Production/Manufacturing positions
33.5%

Installation or Repair positions
Administrative positions

19.0%

Management/Professional positions
Sales positions
11.9%

Other positions

18.1%

Mining and extraction, the largest segment of petroleum fuels employment,
reported a hiring-difficulty score that was one of the lower such scores across allenergy sectors–only 53 percent of employers in that industry sector reported thathiring was either somewhat difficult (37 percent) or very difficult (15 percent).
Manufacturing, the second largest segment, reported that 76 percent of
employers found hiring new employees either somewhat difficult or very difficult.

23

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 8.
Fuels Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
11%

17%

24%

21%

46%
39%

67%

54%

50%

37%
43%
16%

22%

Mining & Extraction

Manufacturing

22%
Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Very difficult

Professional
Business Services

29%
Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Fuels sector employers, across most industry sectors, mentioned lack ofexperience, training, or technical skills as the number one reason for reported
hiring difficulty over the previous year. Other significant reasons for reported
hiring difficulty were location and insufficient non-technical skills.

Table 7.
Fuels Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale
Mining & Extraction

Manufacturing

Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

Lack ofProfessionaland Business
Services
Lack ofLack of experience,experience,Insufficient non-experience,

training, or technicaltraining, or

technical skills

training, or

skills (42%)

technical skills(32%)

technical skills(40%)
Insufficient nontechnical skills (19%)

Insufficient nontechnical skills(21%)

Difficulty finding

Insufficientindustry-specificqualifications,knowledge, skills,

certifications,and interest (17%)

education (21%)

Other

Location (40%)(63%)
Insufficientqualifications,certifications,education (26%)
Cannot provide
competitive
wages (26%)

24

Insufficient non-Lack of experience,technical skills

training, or technical(13%)

skills (30%)

Insufficient

Difficulty finding

qualifications,industry-specificcertifications,knowledge, skills,

education (13%)

and interest (20%)

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

More than six in ten (63 percent) professional and business services employers
within Fuels who reported difficulty in hiring also reported engineers/scientists as
the occupation that was the most difficult to hire for. Technicians or mechanicalsupport was another notably difficult position to hire for.
Table 8 lists the most difficult occupations to hire for by industry within the Fuels
sector, as reported by employers in 2018.

Table 8.
Fuels Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficultyby Industry, Q4 2018
Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Technicians orTechnicians ormechanicalmechanical support

support (45%)(46%)

Electrician/construction
laborers (21%)
Drivers/
dispatchers (17%)

Drivers/
dispatchers (22%)
Electrician/construction
laborers (21%)

Wholesale Trade,

Professional

Distribution, andand BusinessTransport

Services

Drivers/dispatchers

Engineers/(39%)

scientists (63%)

Sales, marketing,Technicians oror customer service

mechanical(28%)

support (13%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (22%)

Other
Technicians ormechanicalsupport (89%)
Drivers/
dispatchers (22%)

Electrician/Electrician/construction

construction

laborers (13%)

laborers (22%)

Women made up only 24 percent of employment in the Fuels sector. While theFuels sector had lower proportions of both black or African American and Hispanic
or Latino employees, compared to national workforce averages, the sector’s
overall racial diversity was equal to the national average of 22 percent. The Fuels
sector exceeded the national average for veterans hiring at 11 percent.

25

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 9.
Fuels Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Fuels

Averages14

Male853,800

76%

53%

Female273,753

24%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

133,945

12%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

993,608

88%

83%

American Indian or
Alaska Native

20,025

2%

1%

Asian

61,7235%

6%59,100

5%

12%

8,195

1%

>1%

White

879,778

78%

78%

Two or more races15

98,7329%

2%Veterans

122,85911%

6%

55 and over

261,286

23%

23%

Union

36,0663%

11%Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

14

All demographic information except union membership from 2017 data in “Labor Force Statistics from the Current
Population Survey,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor,
https://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm. Information on union membership is from “Table 3: Union affiliation of
employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry, 2016-17 annual averages,” in U.S. Department ofLabor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Union Members Summary,” news release, January 19, 2018,https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm.
15
While federal guidelines were followed in administering the demographic questions, respondents may havereported two or more races as including Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, inappropriately inflating the total and deflatingother racial categories.

26

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

PETROLEUM FUELSPetroleum fuels employed a total of 602,810 workers across the nation in 2018.
Over the course of 2018, petroleum fuels jobs grew by 33,500 jobs, or almost 6
percent. Mining and extraction supported over half of the oil industry, while
manufacturing made up nearly 25 percent of oil fuels employment in 2018.

Figure 9.
Petroleum Fuels – Employment by Industry
308,681

149,142
66,94758,622
18,066

er
th
O

ic
Se
ss
ne

d

si

an

Bu

n,

d

io

an

ut
ib

al

tr

on

is
W

ho

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sa

le

Pr

Tr

of

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si

D
e,
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rv

sp
an
Tr

uf
an

g
in
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M

es

t
or

g
rin
tu
ac

tr
ns
M

d
an

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Ex

tr

uc

ac

tio

tio

st
re
Fo
d
an
re
tu
ul
ric
Ag

1,353

n

n

ry

-

Employers in industries important to petroleum fuels experienced varying degrees
of difficulty in hiring new workers in 2018—61 percent of mining and extraction
employers reported that hiring new workers was somewhat difficult or very
difficult, 71 percent of manufacturing employers reported hiring was somewhat
difficult or very difficult (with 23 percent noting it has been very difficult), and 74
percent of professional business services employers reported that hiring was
somewhat difficult or somewhat difficult or very difficult (with 37 percent reportingthat hiring was very difficult).16

16

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
10. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

27

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 10.
Petroleum Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

29%

40%

38%

25%

48%

42%

19%

23%

Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Very difficult

39%

20%

26%

40%

37%

40%

37%

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport
Somewhat difficult

Other

Not at all difficult

Employers in the petroleum fuels industry expect 3 percent growth in 2019. This is
led by the professional business services sector, which expects almost 6 percent
growth.

Figure 11.
Petroleum Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry
11.7%

5.9%
2.4%

Mining &Extraction

3.3%

Manufacturing

3.3%

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

Other
Services
Other

Petroleum fuels had a low number of female employees in 2018, representing
only 23 percent of the workforce. Along with women, black or African Americanand Hispanic or Latino workers also fell short of national workforce averages.
However, the overall racial diversity of the petroleum fuels workforce was
equivalent to the national average of 22 percent.

28

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 10.
Petroleum Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Oil

AveragesMale

464,164

77%

53%

Female138,646

23%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

78,10013%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

524,71187%

83%

American Indian or
Alaska Native

12,062

2%

1%

Asian

37,7026%

6%35,406

6%

12%

5,256

1%

>1%

White

461,72177%

78%

Two or more races

50,6638%

2%Veterans

60,88310%

6%55 and over

134,851

22%

23%

Union

12,3732%

11%Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian orother Pacific Islander

29

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

COAL FUELS
Coal fuels employed a total of 74,831 workers in the U.S. in 2018. Over the course of2018, coal jobs increased by 650 jobs, or 0.9 percent. Mining and extraction jobs
supported nearly 75 percent of coal fuels employment in 2018, while manufacturing
made up nearly 14 percent. Additional Wholesale Trade, Distribution and Transport
jobs that directly support the coal industry are included in the Transmission,
Distribution, and Storage chapter and the Coal Industry crosscut on page 118.

Figure 12.
Coal Fuels – Employment by Industry
55,905

10,194

es

es

ic
rv

rv

er
th

Bu

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si

Se

Se
ss
ne

d
an
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d

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tr

on

is
W

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Pr

of

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D
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ad
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g
in
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M

25

t

ng
tu
ac

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tr

ac
tr
Ex
d
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ri

tio

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tio

ry
st
re
Fo
d
an
re
ltu
cu
ri
Ag

1,007

n

-

7,700

Hiring has generally not been difficult for two industry sectors supporting coalfuels–56 percent of manufacturing employers and 50 percent of mining andextraction employers in coal fuels reported that hiring new workers has not beendifficult during 2018. By contrast, 80 percent of professional business services
employers reported that hiring was somewhat difficult or very difficult (with 33
percent reporting hiring to have been very difficult). 17

17

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
13. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

30

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 13.
Coal Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

50%

38%

25%

20%

38%

47%

38%

33%

25%

56%

33%

13%

11%

Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Very difficult

50%

25%

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport
Somewhat difficult

Other
Other
Services

Not at all difficult

Employers in the coal fuels industry expect around 2.5 percent growth in 2019.
This is led by the professional business services sector, which expects over 6
percent growth.

Figure 14.
Coal Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry
23.3%

12.1%
6.4%

4.8%
1.8%

1.4%
Agriculture andForestry

Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Services

Coal fuels had a low number of female employees in 2018, representing only 22
percent of the workforce. Similarly, black or African American, Hispanic or Latino,
and Asian workers also fell short of national workforce averages, making coal fuels
one of the least diverse industries.

31

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 11.
Coal Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Coal

AveragesMale

58,247

78%

53%

Female16,58422%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

8,146

11%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

66,685

89%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

1,572

2%

1%

Asian

2,262

3%

6%

Black or African American

2,814

4%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

337

0%

>1%

White

62,83484%

78%

Two or more races

5,012

7%

2%

Veterans

7,109

9%

6%

55 and over

21,047

28%

23%

Union

888

1%

11%

32

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NATURAL GAS FUELSNatural gas fuels employed a total of 270,626 workers across the nation in 2018.
Over the course of 2018, natural gas jobs grew significantly, by over 17,000 new
jobs or by nearly 7 percent. Mining and extraction jobs supported over 60 percentof the natural gas fuels industry, while manufacturing made up over 16 percent of
natural gas fuels employment in 2018.

Figure 15.
Natural Gas Fuels – Employment by Industry
162,928

44,44434,03729,045

er
th
O

es
Se
ss
ne

d

si

an

W

ho

le

sa

le

Pr

Tr

of

es

si

D

on

is

al

tr

ib

an

ut

d

io

Bu

n,

M
e,
ad

rv

sp
an
Tr

ac
uf
an

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g
in
in
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ic

or

t

ng
tu

uc
ns

tr

ac
tr
Ex
d
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ri

tio

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tio

ry
st
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Fo
d
an
re
ltu
cu
ri
Ag

173

n

-

Thirty-six percent of mining and extraction employers reported that hiring newworkers has not been difficult during 2018. In contrast, 83 percent of wholesaletrade, distribution, and transport employers reported that hiring was somewhat
difficult or very difficult in 2018 (with 33 percent reporting that hiring was very
difficult). 18

18

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
16. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

33

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 16.
Natural Gas Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

36%

17%

33%

50%
45%

48%

18%

19%

Mining &Extraction

Manufacturing

Very difficult

33%

21%

50%

29%

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport
Somewhat difficult

33%

33%

33%
Other
Services

Not at all difficult

Employers in the natural gas fuels industry expect nearly 4 percent growth in
2019. This is led by the wholesale trade, distribution, and transport sector, which
expects 9 percent growth, and the professional business services sector, which
expects over 7 percent growth.

Figure 17.
Natural Gas Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry
21.1%

9.0%

2.1%
Mining &Extraction

7.4%

4.2%

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

Other
Other
Services

Natural gas fuels had a relatively low number of female employees in 2018,
representing only 25 percent of the workforce. Similarly, black or African
American, Hispanic or Latino, and Asian workers also were below national
workforce averages. However, at 23 percent, the overall racial diversity of thenatural gas fuels workforce was equivalent to the national average of 22 percent.

34

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 12.
Natural Gas Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018
Natural Gas

National Workforce
AveragesMale

202,749

75%

53%

Female67,87725%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

31,38312%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

239,244

88%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

4,744

2%

1%

Asian

11,0634%

6%Black or African American

12,516

5%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

1,307

0%

>1%

White

207,697

77%

78%

Two or more races

33,29912%

2%

Veterans

25,3179%

6%55 and over

63,388

23%

23%

Union

8,155

3%

11%

35

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NUCLEAR FUELS
Nuclear fuels employed a total of 9,159 workers in the U.S. in 2018. Over thecourse of 2018, nuclear jobs grew by nearly 200 new positions, or over 2 percent.
Professional business services supported over 53 percent of the nuclear fuels
industry, while manufacturing made up over 33 percent of nuclear fuels
employment in 2018.

Figure 18.
Nuclear Fuels – Employment by Industry
4,883

3,038

909
330

er
th
O

ic
Se

W

ho

le

sa

le

Pr

Tr

of

es

si

D

on

is

al

tr

ib

an

ut

d

io

Bu

n,

si

an

ne

d

ss

Tr

uf
an
M
e,
ad

rv

sp
an

tu
ac

tr
ns
Co

g
in
in
M

es

t
or

g
rin

n
uc

ac
tr
Ex
d
an

-

tio

tio

st
re
Fo
d
an
re
tu
ul
ric
Ag

-

n

ry

-

In 2018, 50 percent of manufacturing employers in nuclear fuels reported thathiring was very difficult. In contrast, 50 percent of professional services employers
reported that their hiring in 2018 was only somewhat difficult. 19

19Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
18. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

36

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Nuclear fuels employers are expecting over 7 percent job growth in 2019. Most ofthat growth is expected in manufacturing.
The nuclear fuels sector had a relatively high proportion of female employees in
2018, representing almost one-third of the workforce. Although below national
averages in several areas, the nuclear fuels sector is more diverse than thenational workforce. The number of Asian workers and those reporting two or
more races in the nuclear fuels industry is notably above national workforce
averages. Veterans make up 9 percent of the workforce, 50 percent higher than
the national average.

Table 13.
Nuclear Fuels – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Nuclear Fuels

Averages

Male

6,243

68%

53%

Female

2,916

32%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

1,330

15%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

7,829

85%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

102

1%

1%

Asian

838

9%

6%

Black or African American

606

7%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

92

1%

>1%

White

6,048

66%

78%

Two or more races

1,473

16%

2%

Veterans

849

9%

6%

55 and over

1,517

17%

23%

Union

584

6%

11%

37

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

CORN ETHANOL FUELSCorn ethanol fuels employment represented about 3 percent of the U.S. Fuels
workforce in 2018, accounting for 35,055 jobs, and added about 500 jobs in 2018.
The sector is primarily composed of agriculture; manufacturing; and wholesaletrade, distribution, and transport. Together these three industries accounted formore than 91 percent of workers, followed by professional and business services
at 8 percent.

Figure 19.
Corn Ethanol Fuels – Employment by Industry
15,795

9,795
6,553

2,801

er
th
O

ss
ne
si

tr

Bu

is
D

d

e,

an

ad

on

al

Tr
le
Pr

W

of

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sa
le
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ic
rv
Se

n,
io
ut
ib

uf
an
M

in
in
M

es

d…
an

ng
tu
ac

uc

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ns

tr

ac
tr
Ex
d
an

ri

tio

n
tio

ry
st
re
Fo
d
an
re
ltu
cu
ri
Ag

112

n

-

In 2018, 88 percent of manufacturing employers in corn ethanol, its second largest
sector, reported that hiring was somewhat difficult or very difficult (although only
13 percent reported that hiring was very difficult). In addition, 71 percent ofprofessional business services employers reported that hiring new workers was
somewhat difficult in 2018.

38

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 20.
Corn Ethanol Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry
0.13
0.29
0.5
0.67
0.75
0.71
0.5
0.33
0.13
Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport
Very difficult

Professional Business
Services

Somewhat difficult

Other

Not at all difficult

Employers in the corn ethanol fuels industry expect more than 10 percent growthin 2019. Employers in the manufacturing sector expect over 30 percent growth,and the professional business services sector expects over 6 percent growth. 20

Figure 21.
Corn Ethanol Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry
30.5%

6.2%

3.0%
Agriculture andForestry

0.0%
Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

0.0%
Other
Other
Services

About three in ten workers in corn ethanol fuels were women, and less than one
in ten were Hispanic or Latino. This technology also has a small proportion of
Asian and Black or African American workers. However, it is disproportionately
older, with 27 percent of employees over age 55. A very high percentage (21percent) are veterans.

20

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
21. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

39

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 14.
Corn Ethanol Fuels — Demographics, Q4 2018
Corn Ethanol

National Workforce
AveragesMale

24,552

70%

53%

Female10,50330%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

3,242

9%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

31,814

91%

83%

American Indian or
Alaska Native

276

1%

1%

Asian

2,091

6%

6%

1,811

5%

12%

257

1%

>1%

White

28,55781%

78%

Two or more races

2,063

6%

2%

Veterans

7,345

21%

6%

55 and over

9,417

27%

23%

Union

2,831

8%

11%

Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian orother Pacific Islander

40

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

OTHER ETHANOL AND NON-WOODY BIOMASSFUELS, INCLUDING BIODIESELOther ethanol and non-woody biomass, including biodiesel21, employed almost 2
percent of the Fuels workforce in 2018, providing 20,074 jobs. Because non-woody
biomass represents a small portion of U.S. fuel supply, most of this employment
was concentrated in professional and business services–likely research anddevelopment–and wholesale trade.

Figure 22.
Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) —Employment by Industry

9,577

5,282
2,751

2,407

er
th

si
Bu
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ut
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on

is
W

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Fo
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cu
ri
Ag

57

n

-

In 2018, all employers in wholesale trade, distribution, and transport reported that
all hiring was very difficult. 22

21

Other Ethanol/Non-Woody Biomass Fuel, including Biodiesel is fuel made from materials other than cornstarch,such as straw, manure, vegetable oil, and animal fats.
22
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
22. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

41

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Other ethanol and non-woody biomass fuels employers are expecting 1.5 percent
job growth in 2019, with that hiring concentrated in manufacturing andprofessional services.

Figure 23.
Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) –Expected Employment Growth by Industry
2.5%

0.0%
Agriculture andForestry

2.4%

0.0%
Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

0.0%
Other
Other
Services

Almost a third of the workers supporting these fuels were women and 13 percent
were Hispanic or Latino. However, other ethanol and non-woody biomass
employers were more diverse, in total, than the overall workforce, exceeding
national averages for employment of American Indians, Asians, and thosereporting two or more races.

42

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 15.
Other Ethanol and Non-Woody Biomass Fuels (Including Biodiesel) —Demographics, Q4 2018
National
Fuels

Workforce
AveragesMale

13,603

68%

53%

Female

6,471

32%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

2,682

13%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

17,392

87%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

338

2%

1%

Asian

1,692

8%

6%

Black or African American

1,582

8%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

310

2%

>1%

White

14,98975%

78%

Two or more races

1,163

6%

2%

Veterans

1,865

9%

6%

55 and over

2,897

14%

23%

Union

878

4%

11%

43

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

WOODY BIOMASS FUEL FOR ENERGYAND CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS
Woody biomass fuel for energy and cellulosic biofuels23 supported 33,166 jobs
across the United States in 2018, just under 3 percent of the Fuels workforce, andadded over 1,700 jobs in 2018. Over half of the employment in woody biomass
fuels was found in agriculture, followed by professional services; these two
industries accounted for 83 percent of employment.

Figure 24.
Woody Biomass Fuel for Energy and Cellulosic Biofuel – Employment by
Industry

17,747

9,822

4,549

Agriculture andForestry

Mining andExtraction

1,005

Construction Manufacturing

Wholesale
Professional
Trade,
and BusinessDistribution,
Services
and Transport

43
Other

For 2018, 71 percent of professional services employers reported it was somewhat
difficult to hire.24 No data was available for agricultural or logging firms.

23

While the survey question asked of respondents covered both woody biomass fuel for energy and cellulosic
biofuels, all employment data reported is in woody biomass fuel for energy. Woody Biomass or Cellulosic Biofuel are
fuels developed from the by-product of management, restoration, and hazardous fuel reduction treatments, as wellas the product of natural disasters, including trees and woody plants (limbs, tops, needles, leaves, and other woodyparts, grown in a forest, woodland, or rangeland environment).
24
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
24. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

44

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Woody biomass fuels employers are expecting over 8 percent job growth in 2019.
The workforce for woody biomass fuels is less diverse than the nation as a wholewith 6 percent of the workforce reported to be Hispanic or Latino, 5 percent Asian,and 4 percent Black or African American. Similar to corn ethanol employers, ahigh percentage of employees–17 percent–are veterans and the workforce is older
than the national average.

Table 16.
Woody Biomass Fuel for Energy and Cellulosic Biofuel — Demographics,
Q4 2018
National
Woody Biomass Fuels

Workforce
AveragesMale

23,942

72%

53%

Female

9,224

28%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

1,921

6%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

31,245

94%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

289

1%

1%

Asian

1,736

5%

6%

Black or African American

1,410

4%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

157

0%

>1%

White

27,881

84%

78%

Two or more races

1,694

5%

2%

Veterans

5,627

17%

6%

55 and over

8,048

24%

23%

Union

2,863

9%

11%

45

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

OTHER FUELSOther fuels26 comprised 81,831 jobs across the United States in 2018, just over 7
percent of the Fuels workforce. Over 40 percent of that employment was found inwholesale trade, distribution, and transport, followed by professional services withalmost 37 percent of the workforce.

Figure 25.
Other Fuels – Employment by Industry
32,82830,034

18,673

er
th
O

Se
ss

Tr

ne

d

si

an

Bu

n,

d

io

an

ut
ib

al

tr

on

is
W

ho

le

sa

le

Pr

Tr

of

es

si

D
e,
ad

es
rv

sp
an

tu
ac
uf
an
M

g
in
in
M

ic

or

t

ng
ri

tio
ns
Co

tr
Ex
d
an

tr

ac

uc

tio

ry
st
re
Fo
d
an
re
ltu
cu
ri
Ag

296

n

n

-

Employers reported significant difficulty in hiring in other fuels in 2018, with 91
percent of professional business services employers reporting that hiring has
been somewhat difficult or very difficult, and 77 percent of manufacturers
reporting similarly.27

26

Includes other fossil fuels, other biofuels, and all other fuels. All other fuels includes employers that are not able toassign their workers to a single detailed technology application.
27
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
26. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

46

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 26.
Other Fuels – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

9%

23%

14%

50%
31%

64%
71%

46%

50%
27%

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport
Very difficult

Professional Business
Services

Somewhat difficult

14%
Other

Not at all difficult

Employers in other fuels expect -1 percent growth in 2019, making this the only
component of the Fuels sector that is expected to shrink. This is influenced by theenormous lack of confidence found in the manufacturing industry. However, theprofessional business services sector expects over 4 percent growth.

Figure 27.
Other Fuels – Expected Employment Growth by Industry

4.3%
1.4%
Manufacturing

0.0%

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Professional Business
Services

Other
Other
Services-14.9%

The workforce for other fuels is less diverse, with 9 percent of the workforce
reported to be Hispanic or Latino, 5 percent Asian, and 4 percent Black or African
American. It is also older and with a higher percentage of veterans than theworkforce as a whole.

47

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 17.
Other Fuels — Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Other Fuels

AveragesMale

60,40374%

53%

Female21,428

26%

47%

7,094

9%

17%

74,737

91%

83%

659

1%

1%

4,220

5%

6%

2,884

4%

12%

467

1%

>1%

White

70,33686%

78%

Two or more
races

3,265

4%

2%

Veterans

13,86517%

6%55 and over

20,122

25%

23%

Union

7,493

9%

11%

Hispanic or
LatinoNot Hispanic
or Latino
AmericanIndian or
Alaska Native
AsianBlack orAfricanAmericanNativeHawaiian orother PacificIslander48

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 201949

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Electric Power Generation
Electric Power Generation (EPG) covers all utility and non-utility
employment across electric generating technologies, including fossil
fuels, nuclear, and renewable energy technologies. Also included in theemployment totals are any firms engaged in facility construction,
turbine and other generation equipment manufacturing, and wholesaleparts distribution for all electric generation technologies.

TRENDS•••2018 Job Loss. In 2018, the Electric Power
Generation sector dropped 8,258 jobs,
declining by almost 1 percent to a total of875,585 jobs.
Technology Shifts. Advanced natural gas
added the most new jobs, 4,500, while solar
contracted, losing 8,000 jobs. Other
technologies that grew included wind,combined heat and power, and geothermal.
Nuclear and coal declined.
2019 Expectations. Electric Power
Generation employers anticipated 7.1
percent job growth in 2019, with mostof the increase expected in renewable construction.

50

-0.9%
Electric Power
Generation job growthin 2018

7.1%
EPG employers predict
7.1% job growth in2019

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF EMPLOYMENT
Figure 28.
Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018
288,767(+112)

Construction
185,539 (-5,923)

Utilities

175,713 (+8,493)

Professional and Business

113,247 (-6,275)

Manufacturing

71,550 (-4,757)

Wholesale Trade

40,769 (+92)

Other

0

50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000
2018

2017

Figure 29.
Electric Power Generation Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application, 2017-201828

242,343(-7,928)

Solar
111,166 (+3,722)

Wind

86,202 (-6,641)

Coal

69,159 (+4,505)

Advanced Natural Gas

62,987 (-1,756)

Nuclear54,870 (-471)

Traditional Hydro
Natural Gas

43,526 (+761)

Bioenergy CHP

42,221 (+2,597)

Other

37,775 (+2,936)
12,582 (+175)

Oil
Low Impact Hydro

11,578 (+47)

Geothermal

8,526 (+599)

050,000100,0002018

28

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

2017

Text, charts, and tables in the 2019 report include revised 2017 employment totals for advanced and traditional
natural gas generation based on additional available data from the Energy Information Administration.

51

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

KEY TAKEAWAYS•

While solar EPG has the most jobs overall, the utility sector of the ElectricPower Generation sector is dominated by natural gas, coal, and nuclear
power, which produce over 80 percent of the nation’s electricity.

•

Natural gas and advanced natural gas, combined–with over 112,000 jobs–
have exceeded coal, both in employment and gigawatts produced.

•

Solar and wind are number one and two in the construction industry with
177,000 and 37,000 jobs respectively. Natural gas was third with 10,000.

Table 18.
Electric Power Generation Sector — Employment by Detailed
Technology Application and Industry, Q2 201829
Total

Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professional
Services

Other
Services242,343

3,295

122,026

33,72623,93836,29323,064

Wind

111,166

6,231

36,706

26,49011,78327,058

2,898

Coal

86,20245,795

8,639

1,079

5,935

23,7491,005

Adv Nat Gas

69,15941,780

9,378

2,771

4,824

9,505

900

Nuclear62,98746,809

2,195

1,875

2,531

9,491

86

Trad Hydro

54,87017,4808,850

14,415

5,821

8,070

234

Natural Gas

43,526

17,242

10,337

3,582

3,072

8,165

1,128

Other

37,775

1,610

18,564

3,718

2,177

11,008698

CHP

29,245

1,673

4,241

2,058

3,805

17,274

195

Concentrated

25,411-

20,361

1,224

1,433

2,073

320

Bio

12,976

2,029

5,644

1,107

558

3,199

439

Oil

12,582

479

-

5,851

1,922

4,180

149

Low Hydro

11,578

-

1,876

3,463

2,023

4,144

72

Geo

8,526

1,116

5,016

298

339

1,727

29

TOTAL

1,117,927

188,834

410,791

146,972

95,487

212,005

63,834

Majority-Time
Solar
Employment

29

Majority-time solar employment includes all employees who spend 50 percent or more of their time on solarrelated work. An additional 92,649 employees spent less than 50 percent of their time on solar. The category ofindustry employment differs slightly from several categories used by The Solar Foundation to classify employment(installation and development, operations and maintenance, sales and distribution, manufacturing, and other).

52

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HIRING DIFFICULTY•

85 percent of construction employers in electric power generation
reported that it was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new
employees, with 30 percent reporting that it was very difficult.

•

76 percent of manufacturing employers reported that it was either
somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees.

•

In contrast, only 63 percent of utility employers in electric power
generation reported that it was either somewhat difficult or very difficult tohire new employees, and only 19 percent reported that it was very difficult.

HIGHEST-DEMAND OCCUPATIONSIN ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONWith significant growth in 2018 and predicted growth of over 6,000 new jobs in
2019, electric power generation employers have identified below the occupations
that each industry sector is having the greatest difficulty in filling.

Table 19.
Electric Power Generation Sector — Reported Occupations with Hiring
Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale
Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

Technicians ormechanicalsupport (49%)

Electrician/construction
laborers (31%)

scientists (23%)

Other

Services

Sales,

Management

marketing, or(directors,

Installation

Engineers/customersupervisors,

workers (34%)

scientists (44%)

servicevicerepresent-presidents)

atives (45%)(36%)

Technicians ormechanicalsupport (39%)

Sales,

Sales,

Management

marketing,marketing,(directors,

or customer

or customer

supervisors,

Engineers/

supervisors,serviceservicevicescientists (33%)

vicerepresent-

represent-presidents)

presidents)

atives (31%)

atives (23%)

(19%)

(23%)

Management
Engineers/

Professionaland BusinessElectrician/construction
laborers (29%)(directors,
supervisors,
vice
(16%)

(directors,

Sales,
Technicians ormechanicalsupport (19%)

presidents)

Management

marketing, or
customerEngineers/

servicescientists (23%)

representatives (16%)

53

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “For a utility, a cyber-attack
doesn’t just hurt us; it can turn out
the lights for everybody.”
Jim Somborovich, Senior Director of Cyber Security, Xcel Energy“The reliability of the electricity system underpins virtually every sector of themodern U.S. economy,” said the most recent Quadrennial Energy Review from the
U.S. Department of Energy.
Xcel Energy serves parts of eight states, providing electricity to 3.6 million
customers and natural gas service to 2 million customers. In response toquestions on the changing utility workforce, Jim Somborovich, Senior Director ofCyber Security at Xcel, spoke of the rapid growth of cyber employment. “Two years
ago, it was me and 25 others. At the end of this year, we will have tripled ourcyber workforce.”“Cyber skills are in highdemand throughout theeconomy and we’ve had togrow in a negative
unemployment environment
for cyber. Some positions
are harder than others to fill,
so we have adopted several
different strategies.
“We have gone after reallyjunior people with the intent to train them ourselves. For these hires we’vedeveloped a 4-to-6-week training program and are preparing a skills assessment
tool to help with their eligibility for promotions.
“We’ve also concentrated on recruiting exiting service members. Xcel has an
excellent record with 10% of all new hires coming from the military. In cyber that
number is 19%.
“One of our most important challenges is protecting the grid. For those positions
we need people with both operational technology (OT) experience as well as IT
experience. We have moved people internally with significant OT experience into
cyber and used them to train our IT cyber specialists and vice versa.
“The demand for cyber is mindboggling. Remember, that for a utility a cyberattack doesn’t just hurt us; it can turn out the lights for everybody.”

54

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION MIX
The electric power generation mix in the United States continues to evolve,
accelerated by the transition from coal-fired power plants to natural gas and theincrease in lower carbon sources of power generation.30 This transition has
involved a significant build-out of new power generation facilities in the UnitedStates.
Figure 31 shows net generation of electricity from utility-scale (i.e., one megawatt
or greater) facilities in all sectors of the U.S. economy. Electricity generation fromcoal sources declined by 39 percent between 2006 and 2017, while electricity
generation from natural gas increased by 56 percent and from solar by over
10,000 percent–from 508,000 MWh to nearly 53,000,000 MWh. As noted, this solar
growth only includes utility-scale facilities, as reliable data on smaller distributed
facilities, such as rooftop systems, was not available until recently. In 2017,
distributed solar PV generation increased 23 percent nationwide, while estimatedtotal solar PV generation–both utility-scale and distributed generation–increased
nationwide by 27 percent.31
The shifts in electric generation sources over the last several years are mirrored in
the sector’s changing employment profile, as the share of natural gas, solar, wind,
and CHP have increased. It is important to note, however, that the majority of U.S.
electrical generation continues to come from fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas).
In addition, under latest EIA modeling in the Annual Energy Outlook 2018, in 2050
fossil fuels will still account for 78.5 percent of total U.S. energy production for alluses in the transportation, industrial, and building sectors.32

30

Coal is a combustible black or dark brown rock consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter, found mainly inunderground deposits and widely used as fuel. Natural gas is a flammable gas, consisting largely of methane andother hydrocarbons, occurring naturally underground (often in association with petroleum) and used as fuel.
31
EIA, Electric Power Monthly, March 23, 2018, Table 1.1.A.,
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_1_01_a. Data on distributed solar
generation from annual totals for 2016 and 2017 for Small Scale Generation: Estimated Solar Photovoltaic and dataon total solar PV from annual totals for 2016 and 2017 for Generation from Utility and Small Scale Facilities:
Estimated Total Solar Photovoltaic.
32
EIA, Annual Energy Outlook 2018, February 2018, Table A1,
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/data/browser/#/?id=1-AEO2018&region=00&cases=ref2018&start=2016&end=2050&f=A&linechart=ref2018-d121317a.6-1-AEO2018~ref2018d121317a.3-1-AEO2018~ref2018-d121317a.4-1-AEO2018~ref2018-d121317a.5-1AEO2018&ctype=linechart&sourcekey=0. Data in table for production in 2050 of crude oil and lease condensate,natural gas plant liquids, dry natural gas, and coal, combined and taken as a percentage of total production.

55

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 31.
Change in Net Generation of Electricity by Energy Source (Thousand
MWh), 2006-2018
2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

en

s
So

ur

W

in

ce

d

r
la
So

l
tio

le
uc
N

er

na

ar

as
G

le

nv
H

O

yd

th

ro

er

el

ec

Re

tr

ne

ic

w

Co

ab

as
th
O

ur
at
N

m
eu
ol

Pe

tr

al

Co

qu
Li
m

G

s
id

al
Co
eu
ol
tr
Pe

ke

-

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018 Oct

2012

Electric Power Generation employment was 875,585 jobs in 2018, down nearly 1
percent from the previous year’s 883,842 workers33, but employers report a
projected 6.5 percent growth in 2019. Most of these new jobs are reported in theconstruction industry and are comprised of employees installing and building
generation capacity additions.

33

This number has been revised to account for 2016 coal generation employment in NAICS 4238, Machinery,
Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers.

56

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONWORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS
The largest component (33 percent) of the Electric Power Generation workforce isconstruction, underscoring the importance of the construction industry tomaintaining our electrical system. Construction is followed by sizable groups ofutility workers (21 percent) and professional service employees (20 percent).
Manufacturing is also a significant component, with almost 13 percent.

Figure 32.
Electric Power Generation Sector — Employment by Industry, Q2 2018288,767

185,539

175,713113,247
71,55040,769

Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

57

Wholesale
Trade

Professionaland Business

Other
Other
Services

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 33.
Electric Power Generation Sector —Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 2017-201834
242,343(-7,928)

Solar
111,166 (+3,722)

Wind

86,202 (-6,641)

Coal
Advanced Natural Gas

69,159 (+4,505)

Nuclear62,987 (-1,756)

Traditional Hydro

54,870 (-471)

Natural Gas

43,526 (+761)

Bioenergy CHP

42,221 (+2,597)

Other

37,775 (+2,936)
12,582 (+175)

Oil

11,578 (+47)

Low Impact Hydro

8,526 (+599)

Geothermal
0

50,000100,0002018

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,0002017

Construction, the largest segment of Electric Power Generation employment,
anticipates more than 8.5 percent growth in 2019, while the next largest segments,
utilities and professional services, predict 3.9 percent and almost 7.5 percent
increases, respectively.

34

Text, charts, and tables in the 2019 report include revised 2017 employment totals for advanced and traditional
natural gas generation based on additional available data from the Energy Information Administration.

58

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 36.
Electric Power Generation Sector —Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019)
12.5%

7.4%

8.6%

7.5%
4.7%

3.9%

Utilities

Manufacturing

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Figure 35.
Electric Power Generation Sector — Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018
3.9%

11.2%

12.7%
Production/Manufacturing positions
Installation or Repair positions
Administrative positions

18.7%
32.3%

Management/Professional positions
Sales positions
Other positions

21.3%

Almost one-third (32 percent) of employment in Electric Power Generation in2018 was within installation or repair positions. Management/professional
positions (21 percent) and administrative positions (19 percent) each comprisedaround one-fifth of Electric Power Generation employment.
In 2018, construction firms reported the greatest hiring difficulty among industry
sectors in Electric Power Generation, with 85 percent of companies indicating it
was either somewhat difficult (55 percent) or very difficult (30 percent) to find new
employees. Utilities and professional service employers reported comparable
figures for these two categories of 63 percent and 72 percent, respectively.
Utilities have consistently been more successful at hiring new employees.

59

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 37.
Electric Power Generation Sector —Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018

15%

24%

27%

29%

15%
37%

55%
57%

30%
Construction

67%

19%

6%

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

68%

57%

44%

15%

19%

18%

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Electric Power Generation employers mentioned lack of experience, training, or
technical skills as the number one reason for reported hiring difficulty over theprevious year across all industry sectors.

Table 20.
Electric Power Generation Sector — Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale
Utilities

Construction

Manufactur-

Trade,

ing

Distribution,
and Transport

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical skills(40%)

Location (30%)

Difficulty finding
industry-specificknowledge, skills,
and interest(21%)

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical skills(50%)
Difficultyfinding
industryspecificknowledge,
skills, andinterest (20%)
Competition/
small
applicant pool(18%)

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical
skills (46%)
Competition/
small
applicantpool (25%)

Location(20%)

60

Professionaland Business

Other

Services

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical skills(44%)
Difficultyfinding
industryspecificknowledge,
skills, andinterest (29%)

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical skills(50%)
Difficultyfinding
industryspecificknowledge,
skills, andinterest (28%)

Location (21%)

Competition/
small applicant
pool (20%)

Lack ofexperience,
training, or
technical
skills (67%)

Location(20%)

Competition/
small
applicantpool (17%)

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Electric Power Generation employers reported that technicians or mechanicalsupport, sales, installation workers, engineers, marketing, or customer service
representatives, and management were among the most difficult positions to hirefor over the course of 2018.

Table 21.
Electric Power Generation Sector —Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale
Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

Technicians ormechanicalsupport (49%)

Electrician/construction
laborers (31%)

Installation
workers (34%)

Engineers/scientists(44%)

Management(directors,

customersupervisors,servicevicerepresent-presidents)

atives (45%)(36%)

Sales,

Management

marketing, or(directors,

customercustomersupervisors,serviceservicevicerepresent-

represent-presidents)

atives (31%)

atives (23%)(19%)

Management

scientists

construction(23%)

laborers (29%)(directors,

mechanicalvice

support (19%)

presidents)(16%)

Technicians ormechanicalsupport (39%)

Management
Engineers/scientists(33%)(directors,
supervisors,
vice
presidents)(23%)

Sales,
Technicians or

supervisors,

Other

Services

marketing, or

marketing, orElectrician/and Business

Sales,

Sales,Engineers/

Professional

marketing, or
customer
service
represent-

Engineers/scientists(23%)

atives (16%)

In 2018, the Electric Power Generation sector employed fewer women than thenational workforce average. However, Electric Power Generation is racially morediverse than the workforce as a whole and exceeds the national average for
Hispanic or Latino, and Asian employees. Electric Power Generation had only 14
percent of its employees over age 55 in 2018, far below the national average.
Electric Power Generation exceeded the national average for veterans hiring at 9
percent.

61

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 22.
Electric Power Generation Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018
Electric Power
Generation

National
Workforce
Averages35

Male586,305

67%

53%

Female289,279

33%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

163,61019%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

711,974

81%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native10,685

1%

1%

Asian

88,04610%

6%Black or African American

75,2409%12%Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

10,660

1%

>1%

White

604,404

69%

78%

Two or more races36

86,55010%2%Veterans

77,1689%

6%55 and over

122,865

14%

23%

Union

55,620

6%

11%

35

All demographic information except union membership from 2017 data in “Labor Force Statistics from the Current
Population Survey,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor,
https://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm. Information on union membership is from “Table 3: Union affiliation of
employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry, 2016-17 annual averages,” in U.S. Department ofLabor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Union Members Summary,” news release, January 19, 2018,https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm.
36
While federal guidelines were followed in administering the demographic questions, respondents may havereported two or more races as including Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, inappropriately inflating the total and deflatingother racial categories.

62

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SOLAR ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONThe solar EPG industry is an example of the inability of BLS labor market data tocompletely capture employment in emerging industries (such as solar) and thosethat cut across multiple sectors (such as Energy Efficiency). For 2018, the BLS
reported that utilities employed just under 3,300 workers for solar-specificgeneration. However, this figure does not include many jobs in the construction orother value-chain industries for solar projects even when they are financed,
owned, or directed by utilities. The data suggest that utilities are directly
responsible for at least 25 percent of the solar jobs in the United States, but noother NAICS codes yet exist for solar electric generation. Existing labor market
data therefore dramatically underestimate the additional workers engaged insolar-related work.
In 2018, there were 242,343 Americans who spent 50 percent or more of theirtime working to manufacture, install, distribute, or provide professional services tosolar technologies across the nation. Another 92,649 employees spent less thanhalf their time on solar work.37 That represents a reduction of 3.2 percent or justunder 8,000 jobs for workers who spent a majority of their time on solar. Another
7,000 jobs were lost by employees who spent a minority of their time on solar
tasks.
The majority of solar employment in 2018 is found in construction and installation
activities, totaling 177,320 jobs, followed by professional business services withover 48,000 workers and manufacturing with about 46,500. 38

37

The Solar Foundation, National Solar Jobs Census 2018, 9.
This division of solar jobs by industry, including the data in Figure 38, includes both those employees who spend
more than 50% of their time and less than 50% of their time on solar activities.
38

63

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 38.
Solar Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
177,320

48,142

46,53926,75932,937

3,295
Utilities

Construction Manufacturing

Wholesale
Professional
Trade,
and BusinessDistribution,
Services
and Transport

Other
Other
Services

Currently, a majority of U.S. photovoltaic (PV) solar electric power generation isfrom utility-scale facilities, as shown in Figure 40–roughly 56,179 thousand MWhcompared to 25,847 thousand MWh of distributed solar generation in 2018.39 In
2018, more than 56 percent of U.S. solar workers were spending the majority of
their time working on residential-scale projects, as shown in Figure 39.

Figure 39.
Majority-Time Solar Employees
by Type of Project – 2018

Figure 40.
Estimated Percentage of Solar
Generation Installed

8.2%
19.1%

20.5%
21.5%
Residential

60.4%

Utility-scale
Non-residential

39

56.3%
14.0%

Residential
Utility-scale
Non-residential
Community solar

EIA, Electric Power Monthly, Table 1.1.A. Data for 2017 for Generation at Utility Facilities: Solar Photovoltaic andSmall Scale Generation: Estimated Solar Photovoltaic.

64

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

In 2018, 85 percent of construction employers engaged in the solar industry who
employ the majority of the solar workforce, reported that hiring was either
somewhat difficult or very difficult. 73 percent and 78 percent of professional
services and manufacturing employers respectively also reported that hiring was
somewhat difficult or very difficult in 2018.

Figure 41.
Solar Electric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry

15%

22%

22%

27%

38%

54%
60%

31%
Construction

18%

31%

16%

6%

Manufacturing

31%

57%

73%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

23%

54%

23%
Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

In spite of two straight years of decline, solar employers reported that they expect
to increase employment by 8.4 percent in 2019. Most solar employment supports
PV technologies, with a small portion–7.6 percent–of workers supporting
concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies.40

40

The terms “PV” and “CSP” refer to specific solar electricity production technologies. When references are made toeither distributed generation or utility-scale generation, these include both solar PV and CSP technologies.

65

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 42.
Solar Electric Power Generation —Expected Employment Growth by Industry
12.8%
8.6%

7.7%

7.7%
4.9%

4.2%

Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

About one-third of the solar workforce in 2018 was female. Overall, the solar workforce is racially more diverse than the national workforce. Roughly two in ten
workers are Hispanic or Latino, and one in ten are Asian. Black or African
American employees are under-represented. Both PV and CSP technologies
employed veterans at a higher rate than the national workforce.

66

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 23.
Solar Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
Solar

Concentrating

National Workforce

Photovoltaic

Solar Power

Averages

Male

69%

67%

53%

Female

31%

33%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

20%

22%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

80%

78%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

1%

1%

1%

Asian

10%

9%

6%

Black or African American

7%

7%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

1%

1%

>1%

White

71%

69%

78%

Two or more races

10%

12%

2%

Veterans

9%

8%

6%

55 and over

12%

9%

23%

Union

4%

4%

11%

Demographics

67

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

WIND ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONWind EPG provides the third largest share of employment in the Electric Power
Generation sector (behind solar and natural gas generation). In 2018, firms that
support the U.S. wind EPG sector employed a total of 111,166 workers–a 4 percent
increase from 2017. Similar to solar EPG, the largest share of employment was inconstruction; this industry sector accounted for 33 percent of all wind EPG workers
in 2017, followed by professional services at 24 percent and manufacturing at 24
percent.

Figure 43.
Wind Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry Sector
36,706

27,05826,49011,783
6,231
2,898
Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

In 2018, 86 percent of construction employers in the wind sector reported thathiring new workers was somewhat difficult or very difficult (with 28 percent
reporting that hiring was very difficult). The next two largest segments of the windindustry–professional services and manufacturing–reported overall hiring difficultyof 81 percent and 79 percent, respectively.

68

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 44.
Wind Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

15%

58%

21%

53%

28%

26%

Construction

Manufacturing

15%

19%

77%

66%

8%

15%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

17%

50%

27%

40%

33%

33%

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the wind EPG industry expect almost 5 percent growth in 2019. Thisis led by the construction sector, which expects over 6 percent growth.

Figure 45.
Wind Electric Power Generation —Expected Employment Growth by Industry
11.0%

5.3%

Manufacturing

6.2%

6.0%

4.8%

Utilities

4.6%

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Wind EPG has a demographic distribution that is nearly identical to solar EPG, witha slightly higher proportion of workers who are 55 years and older in age. Wind
EPG is also more racially diverse than the national workforce, with higher levels of
Hispanic or Latino and Asian workers. One out of 10 workers is a veteran.

69

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 24.
Wind Electric Power Generation — Demographics, Q4 2018
Demographics

National Workforce

Wind

AveragesMale

75,403

68%

53%

Female35,76332%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

23,01521%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

88,151

79%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

1,359

1%

1%

Asian

11,20610%

6%Black or African American

8,466

8%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

1,532

1%

>1%

White

75,582

68%

78%

Two or more races

13,02112%

2%

Veterans

10,95610%

6%55 and over

16,574

15%

23%

Union

5,320

5%

11%

70

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019COMBINED HEAT AND POWER GENERATION
Combined heat and power (CHP) generation technologies employed 29,245
workers, or about 2 percent of the employment in Electric Power Generation, in
2018. In 2018, this industry added 2.000 jobs, which is over 7 percent growth from2017. With small generation capacities and significant overlap with other sectors(many companies with CHP report according to their underlying fuel source),
employment in CHP is mostly comprised of professional service workers. This
industry category accounted for 59 percent of CHP jobs in 2018, followed by theconstruction industry at 15 percent.

Figure 46.
Combined Heat and Power Generation — Employment by Industry

59.1%

14.5%

13.0%
7.0%

Construction

Manufacturing

5.7%

Wholesale
Trade

Professionaland Business
Services

Utilities

0.7%
Other
Other
Services

In 2018, 91 percent of CHP professional and business services employers reported
that hiring new workers was somewhat difficult or very difficult (with 25 percent
reporting that hiring was very difficult). Similarly, 90 percent of CHP construction
employers reported that hiring in 2018 was somewhat difficult or very difficult(with 60 percent reporting that hiring was very difficult).41

41

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
47. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

71

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 47.
Combined Heat and Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

10%
31%

9%

17%

40%
60%
80%

69%

20%

20%

25%

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

50%

40%
60%

Construction

Very difficult

33%
Utility

40%

Other

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the CHP generation industry expect almost 4 percent growth in 2019.
This is led by the utilities sector, which expects over 9 percent growth, and theconstruction sector, which expects almost 9 percent growth. The professional andbusiness services, the largest sector, anticipates 5.3 percent growth.

Figure 48.
Combined Heat and Power Generation — Expected Employment Growth
by Industry
21.4%

9.1%

8.8%

4.1%

Manufacturing

3.8%

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

5.3%

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Almost a third of the CHP workforce in 2018 was comprised of women, it is also
more racially diverse than the workforce as a whole, with 29 percent racial
minorities, compared to 22 percent nationally.
72

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 25.
Combined Heat and Power Generation — Demographics, Q4 2018
Demographics

National Workforce

CHP

AveragesMale

19,77568%

53%

Female

9,470

32%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

5,256

18%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

23,98982%

83%

American Indian or Alaska Native

278

1%

1%

Asian

2,614

9%

6%

Black or African American

2,163

7%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other PacificIslander

268

1%

>1%

White

20,78771%

78%

Two or more races

3,135

11%

2%

Veterans

3,460

12%

6%

55 and over

6,238

21%

23%

Union

2,475

8%

11%

73

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HYDROELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
Hydroelectric power generation employed a total of 66,448 workers42 across thenation in 2018. Most of this employment (54,870 workers, or 83 percent) was intraditional hydroelectric generation technologies, while the remainder was in lowimpact hydroelectric technologies (11,578 workers). Manufacturing and utilities
each made up over 26 percent of hydroelectric generation employment in 2018,
while professional business services supported over 18 percent and construction
supported over 16 percent of employment.

Figure 49.
Hydroelectric Power Generation — Employment by Industry
26.9%

26.3%

18.4%

16.1%
11.8%

0.5%
Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professionaland Business
Services

Utilities

Other
Services

In 2018, 88 percent of construction employers reported that hiring new workers
was somewhat difficult or very difficult (with 53 percent reporting that hiring wasvery difficult). A smaller percentage of professional business services employers(71 percent) reported that hiring was somewhat difficult or very difficult, and only
9 percent of them reported hiring to have been very difficult. Utilities, consistent
with other technologies, reported an easier time hiring new employees, with only
33 percent reporting hiring as somewhat difficult and none as very difficult.43

42

Methodology was revised in 2016 to capture subcontractor employment in Traditional Hydro, so employment totals
are not reflective of growth year over year. Primary Traditional Hydro employers reported a minimal decline of -4.2
percent between 2015 and 2016.
43
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
50. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

74

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 50.
Hydroelectric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry
12%

25%
50%

35%

20%

29%
67%

42%

40%

62%
53%

50%

33%

33%

40%

Utility

Other
Other
Services

9%Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

Somewhat difficult

Overall, hydroelectric employers anticipate 5.8 percent growth in 2019. Utilities
and manufacturing, the two largest segments, expect to grow by 6.8 percent and3.3 percent, respectively.

Figure 51.
Hydroelectric Power Generation —Expected Employment Growth by Industry
12.8%

8.3%

6.8%

6.4%

5.0%

3.3%

Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Hydroelectric power generation had about a third female employees in 2018 inboth low-impact hydroelectric generation and traditional hydroelectric generation
technologies. These technologies are also more diverse than the national
workforce average, with higher representation in 2018 across Hispanic or Latino
workers as well as Asian workers. Veterans employment also exceeded thenational average.
75

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 26.
Hydroelectric Power Generation — Demographics, Q4 2018
Demographics

Low-impact Hydroelectric

Traditional Hydroelectric

Generation

Generation

National
Workforce
Averages

Male

7,926

68%

36,47866%

53%

Female3,652

32%

18,39234%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

2,331

20%

9,592

17%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

9,247

80%

45,27883%

83%

American Indian or
Alaska Native

189

2%

739

1%

1%

Asian

1,183

10%

5,921

11%

6%

902

8%

5,550

10%

12%

150

1%

675

1%

>1%

White

8,079

70%

37,13068%

78%

Two or more races

1,075

9%

4,854

9%

2%

Veterans

1,264

11%

4,685

9%

6%

55 and over

1,898

16%

8,848

16%

23%

Union

464

4%

3,272

6%

11%

Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian orother Pacific Islander

76

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

COAL ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
Coal-fired EPG employed a total of 86,202 workers44 across the nation in 2018. Thisis a 7 percent decrease in jobs from 2017. Utilities held over half of coal EPG jobs
in 2018, with professional business services making up almost 28 percent of theindustry.

Figure 52.
Coal Electric Power Generation — Employment by Industry
45,79523,749

8,639

5,935
1,079

Utilities

Construction

1,005

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Services

No utilities reported that it was very difficult to hire in 2018. Only 8 percent ofprofessional business services employers reported that hiring new workers wasvery difficult. The segment with greatest difficulty in hiring in 2018 wasconstruction, in which 40 percent of firms reported that hiring was very difficult.45

44

Methodology was revised in 2016 to capture subcontractor employment in Traditional Hydro, so employment totals
are not reflective of growth year over year. Primary Traditional Hydro employers reported a minimal decline of -4.2
percent between 2015 and 2016.
45
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
53. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

77

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 53.
Coal Electric Power Generation — Hiring Difficulty by Industry

20%

17%

33%

17%

38%

40%
44%

67%
40%

Construction

100%
54%

22%
Manufacturing

83%

17%

8%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

In spite of job losses in 2018, employers in the coal EPG industry expect almost 5
percent growth in 2019. This is led by the manufacturing sector, which expects
over 14 percent growth, and the construction sector, which expects over 8 percent
growth. Utilities, the largest sector, expect 3.9 percent growth

Figure 54.
Coal Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry
14.4%

8.8%

8.1%
3.9%

Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

4.3%

4.7%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Services

Coal EPG had over one-third female employees in 2018–(36 percent). Coalgeneration is also more racially diverse than the national workforce, employing 31
percent minorities. Almost one in 10 employees is unionized.

78

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 27.
Coal Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Coal Generation

AveragesMale

55,49664%

53%

Female30,70636%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

12,70315%

17%73,499

85%

83%

1,025

1%

1%

9,091

11%

6%

9,399

11%

12%

788

1%

>1%

White

59,51569%

78%

Two or more races

6,384

7%

2%

Veterans

5,971

7%

6%

55 and over

14,322

17%

23%

Union

8,092

9%

11%

Not Hispanic or
LatinoAmerican Indianor Alaska Native
AsianBlack or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian
or other PacificIslander79

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
Natural gas EPG employed a total of 112,685 workers across the nation in 2018; ofthese, 69,159 jobs, or 61 percent, are in the category of advanced/low emissions
natural gas generation. Over the past year, over 5,000 jobs were added by naturalgas EPG–an almost 5 percent increase. Utilities provided over half of natural gas
power generation jobs in 2018, with construction and professional businessservices making up 17 percent and 16 percent of the industry, respectively.

Figure 55.
Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
59,022

19,716

Utilities

Construction

17,670
6,353

7,897

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

2,027
Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Services

Utilities, the largest sector of natural gas EPG, reported the easiest hiring with only
13 percent reporting that it was very difficult. By comparison, 76 percent ofconstruction employers report that hiring during 2018 was somewhat difficult orvery difficult (with 50 percent reporting it was very difficult). Similarly, 78 percent ofprofessional and business services employers reported that hiring new workers in2018 was somewhat difficult or very difficult.46

46

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
56. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

80

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 56.
Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

24%

20%

26%

33%

22%

42%

14%
38%
43%

53%
42%
50%

50%

47%
25%

17%
Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

43%
13%
Utility

Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the natural gas EPG industry expect over 5 percent growth in 2019.
This is led by the manufacturing sector, which expects over 9 percent growth, andthe construction sector, which expects almost 6 percent growth.

Figure 57.
Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth
by Industry
10.4%
9.0%
5.7%

5.2%

3.9%

Manufacturing

Utilities

3.7%

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Services

Natural gas EPG, compared to the EPG sector as a whole, had a proportionallyhigh number of female employees in 2018–over one-third (37 percent). Naturalgas EPG is more racially diverse than the national workforce, employing 35 percent
racial minorities, the second highest in the electric power generation sector. Eight
percent of its employees are veterans, exceeding the national average by two
percentage points. Eleven percent are unionized.
81

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 28.
Natural Gas Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
Natural Gas Generation

National Workforce
AveragesMale

71,29063%

53%

Female41,39537%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

18,98517%

17%

93,700

83%

83%

1,476

1%

1%

11,80710%

6%11,905

11%

12%

1,166

1%

>1%

White

73,59565%

78%

Two or more races

12,73711%

2%

Veterans

9,307

8%

6%

55 and over

16,657

15%

23%

Union

12,55011%

11%

Not Hispanic or
LatinoAmerican Indian or
Alaska Native
AsianBlack or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian orother Pacific Islander

82

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NUCLEAR ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
Nuclear EPG employed a total of 62,987 workers across the nation in 2018. Overthe past year, over 1,700 jobs were lost from nuclear generation–an almost 3
percent decrease in employment. Almost 75 percent of nuclear power generation
jobs were in the utility industry in 2018.

Figure 58.
Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
46,809

9,491

Utilities

2,195

1,875

2,531

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

86
Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Utilities in the nuclear generation sector reported little difficulty in hiring in 2018.
However, virtually all construction firms reported that it was very difficult. In
2018, 76 percent of professional and business services employers reported thathiring new workers was somewhat difficult or very difficult. 47

47

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
59. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

83

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 59.
Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

25%

29%

50%

14%
100%

100%

63%

100%

57%

50%
13%

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the nuclear EPG industry expect over 4 percent growth in 2019. Thisis led by the manufacturing sector, which expects almost 9 percent growth.

Figure 60.
Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry
8.8%

3.8%

4.4%

3.4%

4.4%

0.0%
Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Nuclear EPG, compared to the EPG sector as a whole, had a proportionally highnumber of female employees in 2018–over one-third (38 percent), the highest of
any generation technology. Nuclear EPG is the most racially diverse of all
generation technologies, employing 36 percent racial minorities, compared to 22
percent in the national workforce. It also employs the highest level of black or
African American workers at 12 percent, equal to the national workforce. One inten nuclear generation workers is unionized.
84

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 29.
Nuclear Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
National
Nuclear Generation

Workforce
AveragesMale

39,07862%

53%

Female23,90938%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

9,681

15%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

53,30685%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

820

1%

1%

Asian

6,791

11%

6%

Black or African American

7,327

12%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

585

1%

>1%

White

40,59364%

78%

Two or more races

6,871

11%

2%

Veterans

3,650

6%

6%

55 and over

8,899

14%

23%

Union

6,185

10%

11%

85

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019OIL ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONOil EPG employed a total of 12,582 workers across the nation in 2018. Over the
past year, 165 jobs were created for oil generation–a 1 percent increase inemployment. Manufacturing accounted for almost 47 percent of oil power
generation jobs in 2018, while professional business services supported over 33
percent.

Figure 61.
Oil Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
5,851

4,180

1,922
479
Utilities

149

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

In 2018, 76 percent of manufacturing employers, the largest segment, reported
that it was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire employees. Similarly, 85
percent of professional business services employers reported that hiring newworkers in 2018 was either somewhat difficult or very difficult. 48

48

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
62. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

86

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 62.
Oil Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

19%
27%

54%

14%

24%

67%

35%

64%
67%

38%
41%

Manufacturing

33%

21%

13%
Construction

33%

50%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Very difficult

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the oil EPG industry expect over 6 percent growth in 2019. themanufacturing sector that predicts over 7 percent growth.

Figure 63.
Oil Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry
7.9%

7.3%

7.9%
6.8%

4.6%

Manufacturing

Utilities

4.0%

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

Oil EPG has a workforce that is 31 percent women. Similar to many othergeneration technologies, it is more racially diverse than the national workforce,with 32 percent racial minorities.

87

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 30.
Oil Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
National Workforce

Oil Generation

Averages

Male

8,694

69%

53%

Female

3,888

31%

47%

Hispanic or
LatinoNot Hispanic or
LatinoAmerican Indianor Alaska Native

2,475

20%

17%

10,107

80%

83%

166

1%

1%

Asian

1,404

11%

6%

1,019

8%

12%

160

1%

>1%

White

8,575

68%

78%

Two or more
races

1,258

10%

2%

Veterans

1,085

9%

6%

55 and over

1,796

14%

23%

Union

367

3%

11%

Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian
or other PacificIslander88U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019BIOMASS ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
Biomass EPG employed a total of 12,976 workers across the nation in 2018. Overthe past year, 591 jobs were created for biomass generation–a 4.6 percent
increase in employment. Construction captured over 43 percent of biomass power
generation jobs in 2018, while professional business services supported almost 25
percent.

Figure 64.
Biomass Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
5,644

3,199
2,029
1,107
558

Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

439
Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

In 2018, 88 percent of construction employers reported that hiring was somewhat
difficult or very difficult (with 50 percent reporting that hiring was very difficult).
Similarly, 89 percent of professional business services employers reported thathiring new workers in 2018 was either somewhat difficult or very difficult. In
contrast, while 67 percent of utilities reported that hiring in 2018 was somewhat
difficult, none reported that it had been very difficult.49

49

Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
65. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

89

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 65.
Biomass Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

13%

11%
33%

38%

75%

75%

68%
67%

50%

Construction

50%

25%

25%

21%

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Very difficult

17%
33%

Utility

Other
Other
Services

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the biomass EPG industry expect over 5 percent growth in 2019. Thisis led by the construction sector and the professional business services sectors,
which both predict over 7 percent growth.

Figure 66.
Biomass Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry
11.3%
8.7%

3.5%

3.3%

Manufacturing

Utilities

7.5%

Construction

8.1%

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

Other
Other
Services

Biomass EPG has a workforce that is 32 percent female workers. Similar to mostof the electric power generation workforce, it is more racially diverse than thenational workforce, employing 28 percent racial minorities.

90

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 31.
Biomass Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
National
Biomass Generation

Workforce
Averages

Male

8,809

68%

53%

Female

4,167

32%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

2,265

17%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

10,711

83%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

153

1%

1%

Asian

1,309

10%

6%

Black or African American

1,002

8%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

159

1%

>1%

White

9,367

72%

78%

Two or more races

987

8%

2%

Veterans

1,671

13%

6%

55 and over

3,052

24%

23%

Union

1,143

9%

11%

91

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

OTHER ELECTRIC POWER GENERATIONOther EPG50 technologies employed a total of 37,775 workers across the nation in
2018. Over the past year, almost 3,000 jobs were created for other generation
technologies– a greater than 8 percent increase in employment. Construction
accounted over half of other EPG jobs in 2018, while professional businessservices supported almost 28 percent.

Figure 67.
Other Electric Power Generation – Employment by Industry
23,58012,735

4,016

2,726

Utilities

Construction

2,516

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

727
Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

In 2018, 77 percent of construction employers reported that hiring was somewhat
difficult or very difficult (with 32 percent claiming that it was very difficult).
Similarly, 83 percent of professional and business services employer reported thathiring in 2018 was somewhat difficult or very difficult. However, only 60 percent ofutilities employers reported that hiring new workers in 2018 was somewhat
difficult or very difficult. 51

50

Includes generation from incineration of other fuels (waste, etc.), tidal generation, and employment that can not beclassified into a single category.
51
Some industries are omitted from this discussion due to their small sample size in the data contributing to Figure
63. Conclusions have been made only about industries with sufficient sample size.

92

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 68.
Other Electric Power Generation – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

23%

45%

20%

17%

33%

40%
50%

60%

47%

67%
32%
Construction

33%

20%
Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Very difficult

Professional
Business Services

13%
Utility

Somewhat difficult

Employers in the other EPG industry expect over 6 percent growth in 2019. This
will be led by the manufacturing sector, which predicts over 11 percent growth.

Figure 69.
Other Electric Power Generation – Expected Employment Growth byIndustry
11.3%

5.5%

5.5%

4.2%

4.4%

0.0%
Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Other
Other
Services

The workforce profile of other EPG is similar to electric power generation profiles
generally. Other EPG has a workforce that is 32 percent female employees, while
it is more racially diverse than the national workforce–with 28 percent racial
minorities, compared to a national average of 22 percent.

93

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 32.
Other Electric Power Generation – Demographics, Q4 2018
National
Other Generation

Workforce
AveragesMale

31,57868%

53%

Female14,72332%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

8,901

19%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

37,40081%

83%

American Indian or Alaska
Native

529

1%

1%

Asian

4,730

10%

6%

Black or African American

3,268

7%

12%

Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander

595

1%

>1%

White

33,521

72%

78%

Two or more races

3,659

8%

2%

Veterans

4,236

9%

6%

55 and over

5,907

13%

23%

Union

2,217

5%

11%

94

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
AND FUELS EMPLOYMENT CROSSCUTIn Table 33, data on Electric Power Generation and Fuels technologies are
combined to better understand the employment characteristics and trends ofeach. Some generation technologies, such as natural gas or nuclear power,
require the use of fuels while others, such as wind or hydropower, do not. In
addition, some fuels, such as coal and nuclear fuel, are used primarily for electric
power generation while others such as oil and natural gas have multiple purposes.
For example, advanced natural-gas-powered electricity generation and nuclearpowered electricity generation are technology applications that employ roughly
the same number of workers, while the underlying technologies used in natural
gas and nuclear energy systems are significantly different, as are the associatedemployment numbers for all energy uses of these resources.

95

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 33.
Electric Power Generation and Fuels Employment by Major Energy
Technology Application and Detailed Technology Application
Electric Power
Generation

Fuels

Total

Oil/Petroleum

12,282602,810615,092

Natural Gas

112,685-

383,311

Traditional Gas

43,526

270,626

314,152

Advanced Gas

69,159-69,159Majority-Time Solar
Employment*

242,343-

242,343

Coal

86,202

74,831

161,033

Bioenergy

12,976

106,709

119,685-

35,05535,055-20,07420,074-33,16633,166-

18,414

18,414

Corn Ethanol
Other Ethanol/
Non-Woody
Biomass,
including
Biodiesel
Woody Biomass
Fuel for Energy
and Cellulosic
Biofuels
Other BiofuelsWind

111,166-

111,166

Other Generation/
Other Fuels

37,77563,417101,192

Nuclear62,987

9,159

72,14666,448-66,448

11,578-

11,57854,870-54,870CHP

29,245-29,245

Geothermal

8,526

-

8,526

Hydroelectric
Generation
Low Impact
Hydroelectric
Generation
Traditional
Hydropower* Note: An additional 92,649 employees spent less than 50 percent of their time on solar.

96

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 201997

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Transmission, Distribution
and Storage
Transmission, Distribution, and Storage (TDS) infrastructure for electric
power and fuel links energy supplies to intermediate and end users. It
includes the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•

2.6 million miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines
414 natural gas storage facilities
330 ports handling crude petroleum and refined petroleum products
140,000 miles of railways that handle crude petroleum, refined
petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal
642,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines
6.3 million miles of distribution lines52

TRENDS•••52

2018 TDS Employment: Excluding retail
employees in gas stations and fuel dealers,
1,365,887 workers were employed inTransmission, Distribution, and Storage, adding
33,000 new jobs.
2019 Expectations: TDS employers predict
3.2 percent job growth in 2019, led byprofessional and business services employers
who anticipate 5.5 percent growth, followed bywholesale trade, distribution, and transport andother services at 5.4 percent and 4.9 percent
respectively.
Key Industry Sectors: The construction sector
employed 35 percent of all TDS workers, while
the utility industry employed another 31 percent.

2.5%
Job growth, or
33,000 jobs, wasreported in TDS in
2018, exclusive ofgas stations

3.2%
Job growth
predicted by TDS
employers in 2019

DOE, Quadrennial Energy Review: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure, 1-2.

98

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF EMPLOYMENT
Figure 70.
TDS Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018
480,967(+22,927)

Construction

417,806(+7,163)

Utilities
130,269(+2,708)

Professional and Business

237,289 (-344)

Wholesale Trade & Distribution
84,635 (-708)

Manufacturing

14,921 (-20)

Other Services
0

100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000
2018

2017

Figure 71.
TDS Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology Application, 2017-2018

240,282 182,097

6,676
36,385
Other Fuels
Coal
Petroleum
Natural Gas

99

115,484

19,252Other

20,12525,000

5,801

1,776

2,042

3,629

8,239

Tr
ad
iti
on
Ba
al
TD
tt
er
y
St
or
Pu
ag
m
e
pe
d
H
yd
O
ro
th
er
Pe
St
tr
or
ol
ag
eu
e
m
N
at
St
ur
or
al
ag
G
e
a
O
s
th
St
er
or
ag
Fu
e
el
s
St
or
ag
e
Sm
ar
tG
rid
M
ic
ro
G
rid
O
th
er
G
rid
…

62,910636,189

Electricity

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

KEY TAKEAWAYS•

Construction firms employed 480,967 Americans in TDS, a 5 percent
increase from 2017. Utilities employed 417,806 workers across the UnitedStates in 2018, up 2 percent from 2017 and just over half of energy utility
employment nationwide. While TDS manufacturing employment declinedby 1 percent in 2018, manufacturers predicted that number would grow by
2.3 percent in 2019. Wholesale trade, which declined by 2 percent in 2018,
includes nearly 138,000 employees involved in the transport of commodity
energy products by rail, truck, air, and water.

•

Utility investments. Overall, 48 percent of respondent employers
working in Transmission, Distribution, and Storage reported that a majorityof their revenues come from grid modernization or other utility-funded
modernization projects (an increase from the 37.8 percent proportion
reported in 2017).

•

Fuels employment. The transmission, distribution, and storage of fuels
employed 468,383 workers in the sector in 2018. Of these, 242,058 workwith natural gas, 184,139 work with petroleum, and 36,385 work with coalfuels.

100

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 34.
TDS Sector – TDS Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 201853
Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution, +Transport54

Professional
Services

Pipeline
Transport

Other
Services

Total

Utilities

Construction

Traditional
Transmission +Distribution
Electricity

636,189

300,661

167,489

44,45635,84175,795--

11,898

Traditional
Transmission +Distribution
Petroleum

182,097--

71,727--

90,792--

19,578--

Traditional
Transmission +Distribution
Natural Gas

240,282

117,145

93,049------30,088--

Traditional
Transmission +Distribution
Coal

36,385------36,385------

Traditional
Transmission +Distribution
Other Fuels

6,676

--

--

--

6,676

--

--

--

Pumped Hydro

8,239

--

3,322

2,508

272

1,386

667

85

Battery
Storage

62,910--30,18812,645

7,654

11,316--

1,108

Other Storage

4,031

--

1,488

1,599

50

806

--

88

Petroleum
Storage

2,042

1,264

274

31

--

--

471

Natural Gas
Storage

1,776

575

301

214

675

--

12

Other Fuels
Storage

1,983

--

1,322

--

<10

601

--

59

Smart Grid

25,000--11,738

1,735

1,505

9,840

--

183

Micro Grid

20,125--

11,454

3,629

1,619

2,906

--

517

Other Grid
Modernization

19,252--

14,439

1,842

266

2,463

--

242

Other

115,082--

72,912

15,646

1,784

24,481

--

258

TOTAL

1,362,069

417,806

480,967

84,635

183,089130,269

50,333

14,921

53

Employers in the “other” category typically work across multiple technology applications and workers are unable tobe assigned to a single technology.
54
Traditional transmission and distribution of petroleum, natural gas, and coal only includes commodity flow
employment.

101

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HIRING DIFFICULTY•

79 percent of TDS construction employers reported that it was
somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees in 2018 (with 34
percent reporting that hiring was very difficult).

•

74 percent of professional and business services employers reported
that it was either somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new
employees.

•

By comparison, among utilities, a smaller percentage–56 percent–reported that it was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new
employees (with only 12 percent of utilities reporting that hiring was very
difficult).

HIGHEST-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS IN TDS
More than half the construction employers that hired workers in 2018 reported
that electricians and construction laborers were the most difficult to hire.

Table 35.
TDS Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4
2018

Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,

Professional

Distribution, andand BusinessTransport

Services
Sales,

Electrician/Electrician/construction

construction

Engineers/laborers

laborersscientists (45%)

(36%)

(56%)

Technician or
mechanicalsupport (38%)

marketing, or
customer
service
representatives (31%)

Technician or
mechanicalsupport(25%)

Sales, marketing,representatives(40%)
Management

or customer

Engineers/(directors,

mechanicalservicescientists

supervisors, vicesupport (36%)

support (35%)

representatives(31%)

presidents)(38%)
marketing,(21%)

serviceTechnician orSales,

presidents)

or customer

mechanical(directors,
vice

Sales, marketing,Technician orManagement
supervisors,

Other

Drivers/
dispatchers
(10%)

(40%)
Management

Electrician/or customer

construction

serviceworkers (24%)

representatives (30%)(directors,

Operations or

supervisors,business

vice

development

presidents)

(20%)

(21%)

102

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “Public agencies have theopportunity to create a pathway
forward that is embedded withequity and opportunity.”
Madeline Janis, Executive Director, Jobs to Move America“A moment of transition can be fear-inducing, or it can be a moment ofopportunity,” states Madeline Janis, co-founder and executive director of Jobs toMove America. “The clean energy transition is creating fear among existing
workers in the fossil fuel sector, a fear which can be alleviated by implementing amuch more specific framework around good jobs and equity.”
Jobs to Move America is a national non-profit organization dedicated to harnessing
government procurement to realize equity; to promote environmental
sustainability; to further open, democratic government; and to achieve an
inclusive, diverse workforce that lifts people into middle-class jobs.
A key leverage point in achieving thismission, notes Janis, is in publicpurchasing and spending. Jobs to Move
America’s U.S. Employment Plan offers amulti-point, “all-in” strategy to ensure ajust and equitable transition.
Recommended strategies include
providing training and technology accessfor transitioning workers; selecting
equipment manufacturers that prioritize
local communities and equity in theiroperations and hiring practices; anddeploying new technologies in thecommunities most affected byenvironmental and economic injustice.

Elisangela “Lisa” Oliveira is a bridge painter for the
New York City Department of Transportation.
Photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice“Public agencies have the opportunity to create a pathway forward that isembedded with equity and opportunity, at minimal cost, if any.”
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the second-largest
transit agency in the country, applied Jobs to Move America’s principles in voting totransition its fleet of over 2,200 buses to zero emission electric buses by 2030. The
roll-out of the electric buses will be prioritized in environmental justice communities.

103

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

INTRODUCTION
For purposes of the USEER, Transmission, Distribution, and Storage encompasses
the employment associated with constructing, operating, and maintaining thisenergy infrastructure. It includes workers associated with the entire network of
power lines that transmit electricity from generating stations to customers, as wellas activities that support power and pipeline construction, fuel distribution andtransport, and the manufacture of electrical transmission equipment.
Several NAICS codes actively track employment across utility transmission,
including natural gas distribution, electrical transmission line construction, andfossil fuel pipeline transportation. This year, for the first time in a USEER report,
traditional transmission and distribution technologies were split between
electricity and fuels. Also included this year is employment for the storage of fuels.
The TDS sector’s remaining employment is found within energy-related industry
subsectors in construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, professional andbusiness services, and other services.
In the broadest possible sense, Transmission, Distribution, and Storage could also
encompass the final retail sale of gasoline and other liquid fuels to consumers.
Retail sales of gasoline and liquid fuels dealers employ a significant number ofworkers–in 2018, there were 1,014,007 such employees (down 2,000 since 2017),
comprising workers in gasoline stations with convenience stores (838,746
employees), other gasoline stations (103,976 employees), and fuel dealers (71,285
employees).55 These employees are part of the larger universe of 15,775,096
employees in retail trade in the United States in 2018.56 For purposes of the 2019USEER, though, this retail trade employment is not included in the scope of thischapter on Transmission, Distribution, and Storage (or in the associated state fact
sheets on energy employment that accompany this report). Workers associatedwith the wholesale trade and distribution of energy commodities, though, arewithin the scope of this chapter.

55

BLS, QCEW, 2018 Second Quarter, U.S. Total June Employment for NAICS 44711, NAICS 44719, and NAICS
45431.
56
BLS, QCEW, 2018 Second Quarter, U.S. Total June Employment for NAICS 44-45.

104

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SUMMARY
Transmission, Distribution, and Storage, plus the retail workers discussed above,
employed just under 2.38 million Americans in 2018. Excluding these retail
employees, 1,365,887 workers were employed in the TDS sector. As shown in
Figure 72,57 about 66 percent of this employment was across utilities andconstruction firms,58 including 35 percent in construction companies that constructpipeline and other infrastructure that support the Transmission, Distribution, andStorage, including both fuels and electricity.59 Overall, 48 percent of respondent
employers working in the TDS sector reported that a majority of their revenues
come from grid modernization or other utility-funded modernization projects (anincrease from the 37.8 percent proportion reported in 2017). Employers project toincrease their hiring of workers by just over 3 percent in 2019.

Figure 72.

Construction

2017

2018

133,047
127,561
130,269

2016

36,41190,73385,343
84,635
8,235
Manufacturing

2015

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution,
and Transport

57

Professionaland Business
Services

18,566
14,941
14,921

352,535
424,593458,040
480,967

Utilities

235,529
242,078
236,298
237,289415,206
408,016
410,643
417,806

TDS Sector – Employment by Industry Sectors, Q2 2015 - Q2 2018

Other

It should be noted that any changes in the manufacturing industry are not directly comparable to employment
totals for 2015 in the 2016 USEER. The 2017 USEER, 2018 USEER, and 2019 USEER significantly improved themethodology and scope used, to capture more manufacturing jobs. As a result, changes in the methodology accountfor most of the apparent and observed growth in 2016, compared to 2015 data.
58
Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are split among motor vehicles, storage, and other generation, depending on
application–however, the numbers were too small to report separately within the latter two categories.
59
This includes transportation employment, which is calculated using commodity flow data and employment data on
rail, truck, air, and sea transportation.

105

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, AND STORAGEEMPLOYMENT BY DETAILED TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION
In 2018, 71 percent of Transmission, Distribution, and Storage employees worked
to manufacture, construct, repair, and operate traditional electrical and natural
gas transmission and distribution. This includes natural gas pipeline and powerline construction. Approximately 81,000 workers were employed with storage
technologies (including pumped hydro-storage)60 in 2018, while 64,400 worked
with smart grid,61 micro grid, or other grid technologies. About 137,200 employees
were involved with the transport of fuel via rail, air, water, or truck, and an
additional 115,100 worked on other detailed technology applications within
Transmission, Distribution, and Storage.62

60

Hydro-storage is included in this section when it is separate from hydropower generation, which is included in thegeneration and fuels chapter.
61
Defined as employees that work on an electricity supply network that uses digital communications technology todetect and react to local changes in usage
62
Fossil fuel commodity flows via air, rail, water, and truck transportation are included using the Quadrennial Energy
Review methodology – these employment figures are relative to the percentage of fuels being transported. These
include jobs supported by oil and coal train and truck transportation, for instance. The employment generated from
commodity flow data is grouped into the “other” category as these employers were not directly surveyed. Total “other”
employment is 252,633.

106

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 73.
TDS Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology, 2018
36,385
Other
Fuels
Coal

240,282

182,097

6,676

Petroleum
NaturalGas

19,252

115,082Other

20,12525,000

1,983

1,776

2,042

4,031

8,239

Tr
ad
iti
on
al
Ba
TD
tt
S
er
y
St
or
Pu
ag
m
e
pe
d
H
yd
O
ro
th
er
Pe
St
or
tr
ol
ag
eu
e
m
N
at
St
ur
or
al
ag
G
e
as
O
St
th
or
er
ag
Fu
e
el
s
St
or
ag
e
Sm
ar
tG
O
th
rid
er
M
G
i
cr
rid
o
G
M
rid
od
er
ni
za
tio
n

62,910636,189

Electricity

Professional and business services firms within Transmission, Distribution, andStorage reported expected growth of 5.6 percent by the end of 2019, as shown in
Figure 74. 63

63

The data in Figure 74 does not include commodity flow employers, as they were not surveyed for 2019 USEER.

107

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 74.
TDS Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4
2019)
5.5%

5.4%

4.9%

4.0%

2.3%
1.1%

Manufacturing

Utilities

Construction

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Other
Other
Services

Professional
Business
Services

Figure 75.
TDS Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Detailed Technology(2018-2019)
4.4%
4.0%
3.4%
2.9%

2.7%

2.6%

2.4%

2.2%

2.3%

2.3%
1.9%

1.9%

2.2%

2.0%

1.7%

1.7%

1.2%

e

e

e

e

e

e

ag

ag

ag

ag

ag

or

or

or

or

St

St

St

St

th
O

le
uc

N

ue

of

Bi

er

or
St

ol

Co

tr

ar

or
St

ol

Pe

as
G

ls

or
St

tr
Pe

id

ud

Li

qu

Cr

108

al

or
St

O

G
CN

e

G

il

or
St

ag

e

ag

e

e
ag

ag

e
ag

ge

or

St

al

LN

m

Th

er

ca

lS

to

ra

e

e

or
ni

M

ec

ha

er

y

St

ag

ag

TD

or

Ba

tt

ro

St

er
H

yd

O

th

G

od

er

n

ri

d

d
ri

d

G
ro

ri

O

th

er

M

M

ic

tG
ar

Sm

Tr

ad

TD

1.2%

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, AND STORAGE –WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS
One-third (33 percent) of Transmission, Distribution, and Storage workers were
employed in installation or repair positions in 2018. Twenty-three percent ofworkers were employed in administrative positions.

Figure 76.
TDS Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018
7.2%
6.8%

13.7%
Production/Manufacturing positions
Installation or Repair positions

16.2%

Administrative positions
Management/Professional positions

33.2%

Sales positions
Other positions

22.9%

Manufacturing firms in TDS reported the highest overall hiring difficulty in 2018,
followed by construction, and professional and business services. Construction,
which makes up the largest percentage of TDS employment (35 percent), reported
the largest number of employers stating that it was very difficult to hire new
employees in 2018 (34 percent). However, this was down by 13 percentage points
from 2017. Utilities, with 31 percent of TDS employees, continued to experiencethe least difficulty in hiring.

109

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 78.
TDS Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry

17%

21%

45%

26%

34%

30%

44%

55%
57%

53%
34%

28%

Construction

Manufacturing

70%

44%

13%

17%

12%

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution
and Transport

Professional
Business
Services

Utility

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult

Other
Other
Services

Not at all difficult

Figure 77.
TDS Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Technology, Q4 2018
20%

24%

8%

25%

21%

42%

50%

46%

69%

50%

63%

68%

46%
50%

er
th
O

st
O

th

er

TD

e
ag
or

ag
or

he

r

G

gr

Ba

tt

er

y

d
pe
m
Pu

ni
er
od
m
id

11%

e

o
hy

tio
za

el
ip
lp
oi
d
an

as

23%

dr

n

es
in

on
si
is
sm
an
tr
al
ic
tr

Sm

ar

tg

ri

d

an

d

ot

El

ec

25%

17%

12%

st

30%

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult110

Not at all difficult

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Transmission, Distribution, and Storage industry sectors reported lack ofexperience, training, or technical skills as the number one reason for reported
hiring difficulty.

Table 36.
TDS Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale
Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Trade,

Professional

Distribution,

and BusinessandServices

Other

Transport
Lack ofLack ofLack ofLack ofLack ofLack ofexperience,experience,experience,experience,experience,experience,

training, or

training, or

training, or

training, or

training, or

training, or

technical skills

technical skills

technical skills

technical

technical

technical skills

(36%)

(53%)

(36%)

skills (53%)

skills (53%)(50%)

InsufficientInsufficientInsufficientInsufficientqualifications,

qualifications,Competition/

non-technicalnon-technicalcertifications,certifications,

small applicant

skills (26%)

skills (32%)

education

education

pool (33%)

(21%)

(33%)

InsufficientInsufficientindustry-specificnon-technicalnon-technicalknowledge,

skills (16%)

skills (13%)

skills, andLocation (28%)

InsufficientInsufficientqualifications,

qualifications,certifications,certifications,education

education

(21%)

(24%)

Difficulty finding
Location (23%)

interest (33%)

Utilities and construction firms that had hiring difficulty in 2018 cited electricians
and/or construction laborers as the most difficult occupational category to hire
for.

111

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 37.
TDS Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4
2018
Wholesale
Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Trade,

Professional andDistribution,

Business Services

Other

and Transport

Electrician/construction
laborers (36%)

Electrician/construction

Engineers/laborersscientists (45%)(56%)

Sales, marketing,or customer

or customer

mechanicalserviceservicesupport (38%)

representatives

representatives

(31%)

(40%)

Sales,

Technician
Technician ororTechnician or

mechanicalmechanicalmechanicalsupport (25%)

supportsupport (35%)

marketing, orManagement

customerEngineers/(directors,

servicescientists (31%)

supervisors, vicerepresentatives(36%)

presidents) (40%)(38%)
Sales,

Management(directors,

Drivers/

supervisors, vicedispatchers

presidents)

(10%)

(21%)

Sales, marketing,Technician ormarketing, orElectrician/customerconstruction

service
representatives

workers (24%)

Management

Operations or(directors,

businesssupervisors, vicedevelopment

presidents) (21%)

(20%)

(30%)

Just under a quarter of Transmission, Distribution, and Storage employees acrossthe nation in 2018 were women. Eighteen percent of employees were Hispanic or
Latino, slightly higher than the national workforce average. While African
American employment was below the national average, overall racial diversity was
8 percentage points above the national workforce average. Unionization rates in
TDS are almost 50 percent higher than the national workforce average. As noted
earlier in connection with Figure 74, commodity flow employment is not includedin this section as commodity flow employers were not directly surveyed for the2019 USEER.

112

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 38.
TDS Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018
Demographic

Employees

Percent ofSectorNational
Workforce
AveragesMale

927,292

76%

53%

Female300,87424%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

216,276

18%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

1,011,890

82%

83%

American Indian or Alaska Native

25,929

2%

1%

Asian

101,8548%6%Black or African American

101,9938%

12%Native Hawaiian or other
Islander

9,483

1%

>1%

White

864,198

70%

78%

Two or more races

124,70910%

2%

Veterans

100,0318%

6%

55 and over

242,032

20%

23%

Union

194,552

16%

11%

113

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY CROSSCUT
The natural gas industry has employment in three of the 2019 USEER chapters–
Fuels, Electric Power Generation, and Transmission, Distribution, and Storage. For
detailed information on hiring trends and demographic makeup, see the sectionsin these chapters beginning on pages 33, 80, and 106.
In total, the 2019 USEER finds that the natural gas industry employs 625,369
Americans, spread through the industrial sectors in Table 39 below. Overall,natural gas industry employment grew by 6.2 percent in 2018.
The largest industry sectors in the natural gas industry were the following:•••

Utilities–176,167 jobs
Mining and Extraction–162,928 jobs
Construction–113,339 jobs

The fastest growing industry sectors for natural gas were the following:•••

Mining and Extraction –11.5 percent growth
Construction – 8.0 percent growthProfessional and Business Services – 6.7 percent growth

The industry sectors that added the most jobs in natural gas were the following:•••

Mining and Extraction – 16,816 jobs
Construction – 8,373 jobs
Utilities – 7,754 jobs

114

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 39.
Natural Gas Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application
and Industry, Q2 201864
Wholesale
Trade,
Total

Mining andExtraction

Utilities

Constr-Manufact-

Distribution,uctionuring+ Transport(including

Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Services

Pipeline)

Fuels

270,626

162,928----

44,44429,04534,037173

Conventional
Gas
Generation

43,526--

17,242

10,337

3,582

3,072

8,165

1,128

Advanced Gas

69,159--41,780

9,378

2,771

4,824

9,505

900

Fuel
Transmission +Distribution

240,282--

117,145

93,049--30,088----Storage

1,776

--

--

575

301

214

675

12

TOTAL

625,369

162,928

176,167

113,339

51,09867,24352,382

2,213

64

Text, charts, and tables in the 2019 report include revised 2017 employment totals for advanced and traditional
natural gas generation based on additional available data from the Energy Information Administration.

115

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY•

Contribution to GDP in 2018: $199.13 billion.65•

Overall employment: 625,369•

1,362,996 GWh of natural gas generation through November 201866•

End-use consumption of natural gas through November 2018: 5.9 percent
by lease and plant fuel, 2.7 percent by pipeline and distribution use, 14.9
percent residential, 10.9 percent deliveries to commercial consumers, 27.9
percent industrial, 0.1 percent vehicle fuel, 37.6 percent deliveries toelectric power consumers•

1,197,155,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through September
201867

WORKFORCE TRENDS
Overall difficulty hiring•

75.7 percent of natural gas firms have had difficulty in hiring in 2018; 32.1
percent have reported hiring was very difficult.

Most difficult industries•

Construction (81.4 percent) and “other” (81.8 percent) industries have had
the most difficulty hiring for natural gas in 2018.
o 50.7 percent of construction firms reported that hiring has been very
difficult.

Most difficult occupations•

Technical/mechanical support was the most difficult occupation to hire for in
2018, cited twice as much (40.7 percent) as the next most cited occupation.
o Other occupations that were noted as being difficult to hire forinclude electricians/construction laborers (21.1 percent),
management (16.7 percent), and engineers/scientists (15.3 percent).

65

Source: GDP estimates are developed by BW Research Partnership using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) RIMSII data and data collected in the employer survey.
66
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Monthly Energy Review, Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source:
Total (All Sectors), January 2018-November 201867
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Monthly Energy Review, Table 12.1. Carbon Dioxide Emissions fromEnergy Consumption by Source, January 2018-September 2018

116

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Reasons for difficulty•

The most frequently cited reasons for hiring difficulty among firms dealing
with natural gas were lack of experience, training, or technical skills (46.3
percent), insufficient non-technical skills (22.2 percent), insufficientqualifications (certifications or education) (16.7 percent), andcompetition/small applicant pool (15.7 percent).

Wage distribution68•••

The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all entry level workers
in the natural gas industry is $18.20/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all mid-wage workers
is $26.03/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for the highest earners in
the industry is $39.92/hour.

Top wage jobs in industry•

Top wage earners in the natural gas industry include executive management(averaging $64.62/hour), general or operations specialties managers(averaging $52.78/hour), engineers (averaging $49.21/hour),accountants/auditors (averaging $46.88/hour), and boilermakers (averaging$36.81/hour).

Figure 79.
National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Natural Gas Jobs

68

Source: Employer reported Q4 2018 wages and May 2017 BLS OES wages.

117

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

COAL INDUSTRY CROSSCUT
The coal industry has employment in three of the 2019 USEER chapters–Fuels,
Electric Power Generation, and Transmission, Distribution, and Storage. For
detailed information on hiring trends and demographic makeup see the sectionsin these chapters beginning on pages 30, 77, and 106.
In total, the 2019 USEER finds that the coal industry employs 197,418 Americans,spread through the industrial sectors in Table 40 below. Overall, coal industry
employment declined by 3 percent in 2018.
The largest industry sectors in coal industry were the following:•••

Mining and extraction employed 55,905.
Utilities employed 45,795.
Wholesale trade employed 43,327.

The fastest growing industry sectors for coal were the following:•••

Professional and Business Services – 6.3 percent growth
Other Services – 4.2 percent growth
Construction – 3.4 percent growth

The industry sectors that added the most jobs in coal were the following:•••

Professional and Business Services – 1,851 jobs
Construction – 288 jobs
Manufacturing – 212 jobs

Table 40.
Coal Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018
Wholesale
Total

Fuels
Coal
Generation
Fuel
Transmission+ Distribution
TOTAL

Mining andExtraction

Utilities

Constr-uction

Professional

Manufact

Trade,

andOther-uringDistribution, +Business

Services

Transport

Services

74,831

55,905----

10,194

1,007

7,700

25

86,202--45,795

8,639

1,079

5,935

23,7491,005

36,385

--

--

--

--

36,385----

197,418

55,90545,795

8,639

11,27343,32731,449

1,030

118

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF THE COAL INDUSTRY•

Contribution to GDP in 2018: $66.08 billion.69•

Overall employment: 197,418•

1,049,299 GWh of coal generation through November 201870•

End-use consumption for coal through October 2018: 74.5 percent byelectric utilities, 25.0 percent independent power, 0.01 percent
commercial, and 0.4 percent for industrial•

953,461,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through September
201871WORKFORCE TRENDS
Overall difficulty hiring•

74.2 percent of coal firms have had difficulty in hiring in 2018; 31.5 percent
have noted that hiring was very difficult.

Most difficult industries•

Construction (87.5 percent) and wholesale trade (75.0 percent) industries
have had the most difficulty with hiring in 2018.
o 54.2 percent of construction firms have reported that hiring has beenvery difficult.

Most difficult occupations•

Technician/mechanical support (34.8 percent), electrician/construction
laborers (21.3 percent), engineers/scientists (19.1 percent), and management(16.9 percent) were cited as the most difficult occupations to hire for amongcoal firms in 2018.

69

Source: GDP estimates are developed by BW Research Partnership using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) RIMSII data and data collected in the employer survey.
70
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2008November 201871
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Monthly Energy Review, Table 12.1. Carbon Dioxide Emissions fromEnergy Consumption by Source, January 2018-September 2018

119

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Reasons for difficulty•

Most (44.0 percent) of coal firms cited lack of experience, training, or
technical skills as a reason for hiring difficulty.
o Other reasons that were frequently cited are insufficientqualifications (certifications or education) (23.1 percent), insufficient
non-technical skills (19.8 percent), and difficulty finding industryspecific knowledge, skills, and interest (16.5 percent).

Wage distribution72••••

The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all entry level workers
in the coal industry is $17.53/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all mid-wage workers
is $26.25/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for the highest earners in
the industry is $40.53/hour.
The average coal worker receives a higher median wage than both natural
gas and petroleum workers.

Top wage jobs in industry•

Top wage earners in the coal industry include executive management(averaging $58.73/hour), operations specialties managers (averaging$50.78/hour), construction managers (averaging $44.43/hour), boilermakers(averaging $36.81/hour) and power plant operators (averaging $36.26/hour).

Figure 80.
National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Coal Jobs

72

Source: Employer reported Q4 2018 wages and May 2017 BLS OES wages.

120

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY CROSSCUT
The petroleum industry has employment in three of the 2019 USEER chapters–
Fuels, Electric Power Generation, and Transmission, Distribution, and Storage. For
detailed information on hiring trends and demographic makeup see the sectionsin these chapters beginning on pages 27, 86, and 106.
In total, the 2019 USEER finds that the petroleum industry employs 799,531
Americans, spread through the industrial sectors in Table 41 below. Overall, theindustry employment grew by 5.3 percent in 2018.
The largest industry sectors in the petroleum industry were the following:•••

Mining and Extraction–308,681 jobs
Wholesale Trade, Distribution, and Transport–170,945 jobs
Manufacturing–155,267 jobs

The fastest growing industry sectors for petroleum were the following:•••

Other Services – 28.7 percent growth
Mining and Extraction – 9.0 percent growth
Construction – 8.1 percent growth

The industry sectors that added the most jobs in petroleum were the following:•••

Mining and Extraction – 25,471 jobs
Construction – 6,725 jobs
Professional and Business Services – 3,963 jobs

Table 41.
Petroleum Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application
and Industry, Q2 2018
Wholesale
Total

Mining andUtilitie

Constr-Manufact-

Trade,

Extractionsuctionuring

Distribution,+ Transport

Professionaland Business
Services

Other
Services602,810308,681--

18,066

149,142

58,622

66,947

1,353

12,582

--

479

--

5,851

1,922

4,180

149

182,097----

71,727--110,370----

Storage

2,042

--

--

1,264

274

31

--

471

TOTAL

799,531308,681479

91,057

155,267

170,945

71,127

1,973

Fuels
Oil & Other
PetrolGeneration
Fuel
Transmission+ Distribution

121

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY•

Contribution to GDP in 2018: $372.29 billion.73•

Overall employment: 799,531•

22,793 GWh of petroleum generation through November 201874•

End-use consumption for petroleum through September 2018: 25.2
percent industrial, 2.7 percent residential, 2.3 percent commercial, 69.2
percent transportation, 0.6 percent electric power•

1,780,798,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through Sept. 201875

WORKFORCE TRENDS
Overall Difficulty Hiring•

77.2 percent of petroleum firms have had difficulty in hiring in 2018; 32.4
percent note that hiring was very difficult.

Most difficult industries•

Construction (85.3 percent) and wholesale trade (81.9 percent) industries
have seen the most difficulty hiringo 58.3 percent of construction firms have noted that hiring has beenvery difficult.

Most difficult occupations•

The most difficult occupation to hire for is technician/mechanical support(62.0 percent), cited over twice as much as the next most cited occupation.
o Other occupations that are noted as being difficult to hire for are
sales, marketing, or customer service (23.2 percent), management(13.2 percent), and electrician/construction laborers (11.7 percent).

Reasons for difficulty
The most frequently cited reasons for the hiring difficulty were lack ofexperience (49.2 percent), insufficient non-technical skills (25.2 percent),
competition/small applicant pool (16.3 percent), and insufficientqualifications (certifications or education) (16.1 percent).

73

Source: GDP estimates are developed by BW Research Partnership using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) RIMSII data and data collected in the employer survey.
74
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2008November 2018, petroleum liquids and coke
75
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Monthly Energy Review, Table 12.1. Carbon Dioxide Emissions fromEnergy Consumption by Source, January 2018-September 2018

122

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Wage distribution76•••

The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all entry level workers
in the petroleum industry is $17.75/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all mid-wage workers
is $25.99/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for the highest earners in
the industry is $39.59/hour.

Top wage jobs in industry•

Top wage earners in the petroleum industry include executive management(averaging $56.15/hour), operations specialties managers (averaging$49.74/hour), engineers (averaging $46.92/hour), boilermakers (averaging$36.81/hour), and first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers(averaging $32.77/hour).

Figure 81.
National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Petroleum Jobs

76

Source: Employer reported Q4 2018 wages and May 2017 BLS OES wages.

123

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CROSSCUT
The nuclear industry has employment in two of the 2019 USEER chapters–Fuels
and Electric Power Generation. For detailed information on hiring trends anddemographic makeup see the sections in these chapters beginning on pages 36
and 83.
In total, the 2019 USEER finds that the nuclear industry employs 72,146 Americans,spread through the industrial sectors in Table 42 below. Overall, nuclear industry
employment declined by 2.1 percent in 2018.
The largest industry sectors in the nuclear industry were the following:•••

Utilities employ 46,809.
Professional services employ 14,374.
Manufacturing employ 4,913.

The fastest growing industry sectors for nuclear were the following:•••

Other Services – 13.2 percent growth
Manufacturing – 3.6 percent growth
Wholesale Trade, Distribution, and Transport – 1.5 percent growth

The industry sectors that added the most jobs in nuclear were the following:•••

Manufacturing – 172 jobs
Wholesale Trade, Distribution, and Transport – 50 jobs
Professional and Business Services – 39 jobs

Table 42.
Nuclear Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018
Wholesale
Total

Mining andExtraction

Utilities

Construction

Manufact-

Trade,

Professionaluring

Distribution,

Services

Other+ Transport

Fuels

9,159

330

--

--

3,038

909

4,883

--

Nuclear
Generation

62,987--46,809

2,195

1,875

2,531

9,491

86

TOTAL

72,146330

46,809

2,195

4,913

3,440

14,37486

124

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY•••

Contribution to GDP in 2018: $33.46 billion.77
Overall employment: 72,146 jobs
735,420 GWh of nuclear generation through November 201878

Wage Distribution79•••

The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all entry level workers
in the nuclear industry is $22.09/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for all mid-wage workers
is $35.47/hour.
The average reported median full-time hourly wage for the highest earners in
the industry is $55.40/hour.

Top wage jobs in industry•

Top wage earners in the nuclear industry include executive management(averaging $88.11/hour), computer and information systems managers(averaging $52.78/hour), physicists (averaging $57.13/hour), and nuclear
engineers (averaging $50.87/hour).

Figure 82.
National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Nuclear Jobs

77

Source: GDP estimates are developed by BW Research Partnership using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) RIMSII data and data collected in the employer survey.
78
Source: U.S. Energy Information Association, Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2008November 201879
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics; Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc.

125

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

STORAGE INDUSTRY
The storage industry has employment in one of the 2019 USEER chapters,
Transmission, Distribution, and Storage. For detailed information on hiring trends
and demographic makeup see the section beginning on page 106.
In total, the 2019 USEER finds that the storage industry employs 80,982 Americans,spread through the construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, distribution,and transport, professional and business services, and other services in Table 43
below. Battery storage increased by 17.9 percent in 2018, driven by
manufacturing employment.

SNAPSHOT OF THE STORAGE INDUSTRY•

Overall employment: 80,982 jobs

Table 43.
Storage Industry Employment by Detailed Technology Application andIndustry, Q2 2018
Total

Utilities

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade,
Distribution, +Transport80

Professional
Services

Pipeline
Transport

Other
Services

Pumped Hydro

8,239

--

3,322

2,508

272

1,386

667

85

Battery Storage

62,910--30,18812,645

7,654

11,316--

1,108

Other Storage

4,031

--

1,488

1,599

50

806

--

88

Petroleum

2,042

1,264

274

31

--

--

471

1,776

575

301

214

675

--

12

StorageNatural Gas
Storage
Other Fuels

1,983

--

1,322

--

<10

601

--

59

80,9810

38,15917,327

8,221

14,784667

1,823

Storage
TOTAL

80

Traditional transmission and distribution of petroleum, natural gas, and coal only includes commodity flow
employment.

126

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 83.
National Heat Map Showing Distribution of Storage Jobs

127

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019128

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Energy Efficiency
Energy Efficiency employment covers both the production and installation ofenergy-saving products and the provision of services that reduce end-use energy
consumption. These jobs, as specified in the current survey, include the
manufacture of ENERGY STAR®-labeled products, as well as building design andcontracting services that provide insulation, improve natural lighting, and reduceoverall energy consumption across homes and businesses.81

TRENDS•2018 Job Growth. In 2018, the Energy
Efficiency sector continued to produce themost new jobs of any energy sector–over
76,000–with 2,324,866 jobs in total. Demand
growth for efficient technology and building
upgrades has driven expansion across many
traditional industries including construction
trades (which added almost 21,000 jobs) andprofessional services (which added 35,000
employees).

3.4%
Energy Efficiency job
growth in 2018.

7.8%

•

2019 Expectations. Energy Efficiency
employers report a projected growth rate for
employment in 2019 of almost 8 percent.
Construction employers, in particular, report
expected Energy Efficiency job growth of 8.8
percent by the end of 2019.

•

Key Occupations: The majority (nearly 56 percent) of Energy Efficiency
employees worked at construction firms in 2018, installing or servicing
Energy Efficiency goods or performing Energy Efficiency related services.82
Approximately one in five workers in the Energy Efficiency sector worked inprofessional and business services.

81

Employers predict
7.8% Energy Efficiency
job growth in 2019.

Estimates do not include retail employment. ENERGY STAR is a registered trademark of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
82
Building control equipment includes electrical equipment to automate, manage, or otherwise control mechanicaland electrical building components such as lighting, ventilation, and power systems equipment.

129

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF EMPLOYMENT
Figure 84.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Industry, 2017-2018
Construction
1,295,783(+20,809)

484,482(+34,683)

Professional and Business

321,582 (+6,004)

Manufacturing

180,337 (+12,845)

Wholesale Trade

42,682 (+2,001)

Other Services
0

400,000
2018

800,000

1,200,000

1,600,000

2017

Figure 85.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology,
2017-2018
ENERGY STAR Appliances, including High
Efficiency HVAC

595,331(+22,116)

Traditional HVAC

582,108(+23,532)

Advanced and Recycled Building Materials

440,188(+6,244)

LED, CFL, and Other Efficient Lighting

370,562(+18,449)
207,780(+1,184)

Other

128,896(+4,817)

Renewable Heating and Cooling0200,000

2018

2017

130

400,000

600,000

800,000

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

KEY TAKEAWAYS•

The manufacture of energy efficiency products, including those certified by
ENERGY STAR, represented a sizeable portion of employment in 2018, withjust under 14 percent of the total Energy Efficiency workforce. This
represents an increase of 2 percent from 2017, or approximately 6,000
new jobs.

•

Professional and business services added 34,700 new jobs. Construction
added nearly 21,000 jobs in 2018. Construction firms working in the Energy
Efficiency sector reported that 79 percent of their employees spend amajority of their time working with energy efficiency technologies, nearly
even with the 80.3 percent reported in 2017.

Table 44.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application and Industry, Q2 2018
Total

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale
Trade

Professional
Services

Other
Services

ENERGY STAR
Appliances

167,828

86,547

17,35012,852

46,671

4,408

LED, CFL and Other
Efficient Lighting

370,562

184,471

49,40839,266

93,901

3,517

582,108

322,181

33,02354,354

156,326

16,224

427,503275,285

74,791

26,362

46,421

4,644

128,896

82,513

7,823

7,865

29,909785

Advanced Building
Materials/Insulation

357,765

204,245

74,377

22,46254,2972,384

Recycled building
materials

82,42346,921

11,844

2,801

17,8493,007

Reduced water
consumption
products andappliances

91,55558,069

6,109

5,291

20,728

1,358

Other

116,225

35,55046,856

9,086

18,379

6,354

TOTAL

2,324,865

1,295,782

321,581

180,339

484,481

42,681

Traditional HVAC
goods, control
systems, andservices
ENERGY STAR/ High
Efficiency heating
and coolingequipment
Renewable Heating
and Cooling(including Solar
Thermal)131

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HIRING DIFFICULTY•

84 percent of construction employers in energy efficiency reported
that it was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees in2018 (with 52 percent reporting that it was very difficult, increasing from
47.3 percent in 2017).

•

82 percent of professional and business employers in energy
efficiency reported that it was either somewhat difficult or very difficult tohire new employees.

•

72 percent of energy efficiency manufacturing employers reported
that it was either somewhat or very difficult to hire new employees.

HIGHEST-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS IN ENERGY EFFICIENCYWith significant growth in 2017 and predicted growth of 180,000 new jobs in 2019,energy efficiency employers have identified below the occupations that eachindustry sector is having the greatest difficulty in filling.

Table 45.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficultyby Industry, Q4 2018
Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution, andTransport

Professional andBusiness Services

Technician or
mechanicalsupport (42%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (24%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (67%)

Engineers/scientists(28%)

Electricians(41%)

Technician or
mechanical support(21%)

Technician or
mechanical support(25%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (21%)

Installation
workers (27%)

Engineers/scientists(21%)

Management(directors, supervisors,
vice presidents) (19%)

Designers orarchitects (18%)

132

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “We don’t need tochoose between good jobs
and a clean environment.
We can and will have both.”
Leo Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers

The United Steelworkers is North America’s largest
manufacturing union, representing 1.2 million active andretired members in the U.S. and Canada.
Leo Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers
observed, “The cheapest way to get carbon out of theatmosphere and create jobs is through energy efficiency.
I’ve been saying this for a long time. If we retrofitted every
public school in America, if we retrofitted every
government building, and then if we started on all our commercial buildings,
we’d create millions of construction jobs.
“And when we start retrofitting our buildings, we create demand for the steel,the aluminum and the cement that puts our Steelworkers back to work. We
have hundreds of thousands of miles of old transmission and distribution
pipes that are leaking methane and others that are leaking clean water andwasting the energy that operates our filtration plants.
“All these investments will pay for themselves, clean up the environment andcreate jobs. I’ve said it for a long time and I’ll say it again. We don’t need tochoose between good jobs and a clean environment. We can and will haveboth.”

133

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

INTRODUCTION
There are no individual NAICS codes that can be entirely allocated to Energy
Efficiency employment. Thus, BLS has no specific data sets that exclusively countjobs in this sector. A key component of the USEER employer survey is the ENERGYSTAR program, which was founded twenty-five years ago.
The ENERGY STAR program is recognized by over 90 percent of Americanhouseholds, while 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on ENERGY STAR todeliver energy-saving solutions.
ENERGY STAR sets definitions of efficiency leadership for 75 different residential
and commercial products that in turn cover over 60,000 individual productmodels. Identifying the jobs that produce and install these products is one of the
key tasks of the USEER survey. However, ENERGY STAR also administers three
additional programs for commercial buildings, industrial plants, and new andexisting homes. While the USEER survey counts these jobs in its interviews withconstruction and maintenance firms, the jobs are not necessarily identified with
ENERGY STAR. Future additions of the USEER will specifically seek to address thisgap.
In addition to identifying jobs that manufacture ENERGY STAR labeled products,
the USEER identifies employment in building design and contracting services thatprovide insulation, improve natural lighting, and reduce overall energy
consumption across homes and businesses.83 The USEER Energy Efficiency
employment figures include only work with these efficient technologies or building
design and retrofits. The report does not capture employment related to energyefficient manufacturing processes. It does capture employment associated with
CHP and waste-heat to power (WHP), though these technologies are included in
the Electric Power Generation chapter. In the meantime, please see the recently
released Energy Productivity and Economic Prosperity Index for more information
on manufacturing process efficiency.84
Demand growth for efficient technology and building upgrades has driven
expansion across many traditional industries, including construction trades,
appliance manufacturing, building materials, lighting, and other energy-saving
goods and services. As such, Energy Efficiency workers are found across many
subsets of traditional industries.

83

Estimates do not include retail employment.
Kornelis Blok, Paul Hofheinz, and John Kerkoven, The 2015 Energy Productivity and Economic Prosperity Index(Brussels: Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal, 2015),
https://lisboncouncil.net/publication/publication/121.html.
84134

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SUMMARY
Energy Efficiency employment grew in 2018 by just over 3 percent from 2017. The
2018 USEER has identified approximately 2.32 million workers across theconstruction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, professional and business services,and other services industries that spent some or all of their time working withenergy-efficient technologies and services in 2018, as defined earlier in this report.
At least 595,000 of these employees were directly involved in producing or
installing ENERGY STAR certified appliances; ENERGY STAR certified heating andcooling equipment; or similarly highly efficient heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (HVAC) equipment. Future editions of the USEER will identify
additional ENERGY STAR jobs related to the program’s commercial building,industrial, and new and existing home programs.
Energy Efficiency employers report a projected growth rate for employment in2019 of nearly 8 percent. Construction employers, in particular, report expected
Energy Efficiency job growth of 8.8 percent by the end of 2019.

Figure 86.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Expected Employment Growth by Major
Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019)
8.8%

8.9%
6.4%

5.8%

Manufacturing

Construction

Wholesale Trade,
Professional
Distribution and Business Services
Transport

7.7%

Other
Other
Services

The majority, nearly 56 percent, of Energy Efficiency employees worked for firms in
the construction sector in 2018, installing or servicing Energy Efficiency goods or
performing Energy Efficiency related services.85 Approximately one in five workers
in the Energy Efficiency sector worked in professional and business services. The
manufacture of ENERGY STAR certified products represented a sizable portion of
employment in 2017, with just under 14 percent of the total Energy Efficiency
workforce. This represents an increase of 2 percent from 2017.

85

Building control equipment includes electrical equipment to automate, manage, or otherwise control mechanicaland electrical building components such as lighting, ventilation, and power systems equipment.

135

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

The 2019 USEER does not cover retail trade, but BLS data finds that retail tradeindustries that sell and distribute ENERGY STAR appliances and building materials(as well as non-qualifying appliances and building materials) employ
approximately 4.7 million Americans across several different sectors.86
The market penetration–and resulting manufacture and sales–of certified ENERGYSTAR products continues to increase.87 The penetration and revenues fromENERGY STAR products varies significantly. For example, in 2017, only 3 percent ofceiling fans with lights, 21 percent of computer workstations, 38 percent to 40
percent of clothes dryers, and 18 percent to 59 percent of commercial cooking
equipment meet ENERGY STAR guidelines. However, between 44 percent and 46
percent of refrigerators (commercial and residential, respectively), and 70 percent
of LED bulbs, 88 percent of dehumidifiers, 90 percent of notebook computers, and99 percent of multifunction printers are certified ENERGY STAR products.88 A tableof products tracked by the EPA is available in Appendix C.

Construction

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution, andTransport

484,482449,7992018

167,492

321,582

315,5782017

180,337

1,295,783

1,274,974

Figure 87.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Major Industry
Sectors, Q2 2018

Professional andBusiness Services

86 These industries include Household Appliance Stores (443141), Electronics Stores (443142), Building Material andSupplies Dealers (4441), Department Stores (452210), and Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters (452311). These are retailestablishments that are not defined by their sale of ENERGY STAR appliances or EE products. Some are defined by their saleof appliances in general (i.e., those under NAICS 4431) but even these are not the sole retailers of EE products – they could
be general retailers as well such as big box stores that sell wide varieties of items.
87 This trend can be generally seen by comparing recent annual editions of the ENERGY STAR Unit Shipment and Market
Penetration Report, available at https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=partners.unit_shipment_data_archives. When an
ENERGY STAR specification for a particular product type is strengthened, there is sometimes a decrease in the market
penetration of the products meeting that higher specification in the following year.
88 EPA, ENERGY STAR Unit Shipment and Market Penetration Report: Calendar Year 2017 Summary (Washington, D.C.,
2018),
https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/downloads/unit_shipment_data/2017/2017%20Unit%20Shipment%20Data%20S
ummary%20Report.pdf?8fd5-1967.

136

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ENERGY EFFICIENCY EMPLOYMENTBY DETAILED TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONAs depicted in Figure 88, ENERGY STAR appliances, including high efficiency heating
and cooling equipment, was the largest category of employment in the Energy
Efficiency sector, employing just over a quarter of the Energy Efficiency workforce in2018. The second largest category of employment was the traditional HVAC
industry, with just under a quarter of the sector’s employment in 2018. These
employees spent a majority of their time working with traditional HVAC goods andservices, but a portion of their time was also dedicated to energy-efficienttechnologies. This is an important distinction, particularly with installers, because
the majority of these employees would also have specific training in high-efficiency
HVAC systems.89 The third largest category of employment was advanced building
materials, followed by energy efficient lighting. The Other category in Figure 88
includes reduced water consumption products and appliances.

595,3312017

LED, CFL, andOther EfficientLighting

Advanced andEnergy STAR
Recycled
Appliances,
Building
including High
Materials
Efficiency HVAC

89

Renewable
Heating andCooling

217,759

128,896

124,079

116,445
Traditional
HVAC

207,7802018

206,596573,215

2016

440,188433,944446,796

370,562352,113327,792

552,147

582,108

558,576

520,572

Figure 88.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application (Q2 2016 - Q2 2018)

Other

Unlike the installation and repair of ENERGY STAR appliances, such as dishwashers, refrigerators, or other energyefficient products, high-efficiency HVAC systems often have very specific certifications or training requirements inorder to properly install and maintain the equipment. Manufacturers often require such certifications for warranty
purposes, and EPA has a specific credentialing program for ENERGY STAR heating and cooling (see:http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.nh_hvac_contractors_become).

137

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Construction firms working in the Energy Efficiency sector reported that 79
percent of their workers spend at least 50 percent of their time on energy
efficiency-related work. This was down slightly from 80.3 percent in 2017 after two
years of very rapid growth in 2016 and 2017.
Construction workers across the Energy Efficiency sector are primarily engaged inboth traditional HVAC and high efficiency heating and cooling equipment;
together, these two technology applications accounted for 46 percent ofconstruction-related work in the Energy Efficiency sector in 2018. Advanced andrecycled building materials and insulation technologies also supported asignificant amount of construction employment–over 251,100 jobs. The
manufacturing industry is heavily concentrated in high efficiency heating andcooling equipment as well as advanced and recycled building materials andinsulation–approximately 157,400 manufacturing employees or half of efficiencyrelated manufacturing work in 2018. About three in ten workers in the wholesaletrade industry and nearly a third in professional and business services were
mostly working with traditional HVAC goods.

138

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 46.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Employment by Detailed Technology
Application and Industry, Q2 2018
Manufact-

Wholesale

Professional

uring

Trade

Services

86,547

17,35012,852

46,671

4,408

370,562

184,471

49,40839,266

93,901

3,517

582,108

322,181

33,02354,354

156,326

16,224

427,503275,285

74,791

26,362

46,421

4,644

128,896

82,513

7,823

7,865

29,909785

357,765

204,245

74,377

22,46254,2972,384

82,42346,921

11,844

2,801

17,8493,007

91,55558,069

6,109

5,291

20,728

1,358

Other

116,225

35,55046,856

9,086

18,379

6,354

TOTAL

2,324,865

1,295,782

321,581

180,339

484,481

42,681ENERGY STAR
Appliances

Total

Construction

167,828

Other

LED, CFL and
Other EfficientLighting
Traditional
HVAC goods,
controlsystems, andservices
ENERGY STAR/High Efficiency
heating andcoolingequipment
Renewable
Heating andCooling(including Solar
Thermal)Advanced
Building
Materials/
Insulation
Recycledbuilding
materials
Reduced water
consumption
products andappliances

139

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ENERGY EFFICIENCY – WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS
Nearly 32 percent of all workers in Energy Efficiency were employed in installation
or repair positions in 2018, followed by administrative positions (25 percent).

Figure 89.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Occupational Distribution, Q4 2018
4.2%
7.3%

17.7%

Production/Manufacturing positions
Installation or Repair positions

13.9%

Administrative positions
Management/Professional positions
31.7%

Sales positions

25.0%

Other positions

In the Energy Efficiency sector, 84 percent of employers in construction and 82
percent of professional and business services reported some difficulty finding
qualified job applicants. Seventy percent or more of Energy Efficiency employers in
all industries reported at least some difficulty in hiring. Energy Efficiency
construction, the largest single segment of the traditional and energy efficiency
sectors with over 1.2 million employees, also reported the single highest degree ofdifficulty in hiring new employees.

140

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 90.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018

16%

28%

18%

28%

23%

32%
48%

58%

36%

61%

52%
21%

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Professional
Business Services

14%
Construction

Manufacturing

Very difficult

40%

24%

Somewhat difficult

Other
Other
Services

Not at all difficult

Figure 91.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Hiring Difficulty by Technology, Q4 2018

35%

41%

42%

io

ls
at

um

er

pt

ia

ls
ia
er
in

Co

g

ns

M

at
M

33%

er

37%

42%

th

47%

26%

O

42%

16%

n

19%

er

ild
W

at

Bu
Re

du

ce

d

ed

O

th

er

Re

cy

cl

ed
nc
va

21%

g
ild
Bu

ea
H
le
ab
w

ne
Re

in

g
tin

tin
ea
H
al

m
er
Th
r
la

g
ol
Co
&

&

ie
fic
Ef
h

ig
H
So

in

in

y
nc

ad
Tr

42%

36%

Co

H

VA
H

ht
ig
,L
D

44%

C

g
in

AR
LE

42%

46%

g

44%

40%

ST
gy
er
En

39%

C

44%

38%

16%

18%

ol

40%

16%

g

38%

18%

Ad

20%

VA

19%

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult

Not at all difficult

Employers in Energy Efficiency with hiring difficulty indicated that lack ofexperience, training, or technical skills were the reason for the largest share ofdifficulty finding qualified applicants.

141

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 47.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Reasons for Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4
2018
Wholesale Trade,Construction

Manufacturing

Distribution, andTransport

Lack of experience,
training, or technicalskills (48%)

Lack of experience, training,or technical skills (55%)

Professional andBusiness Services

Lack of experience,

Lack of experience,

training, or technicaltraining, or technicalskills (49%)

skills (40%)

Competition/ small

Insufficient non-technicalInsufficient non-Competition/ small

applicant pool (24%)

skills (39%)

technical skills (27%)

applicant pool (22%)

Difficulty finding industry-

Insufficient nontechnical skills (24%)

specific knowledge, skills,
and interest (18%)

InsufficientCompetition/ small

qualifications,applicant pool (19%)

certifications,education (19%)

The following table lists the occupations by industry that Energy Efficiency
employers mentioned were the most difficult to fill in 2018.

Table 48.
Energy Efficiency – Reported Occupations with Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale Trade,Construction

Manufacturing

Distribution, andTransport

Professional andBusiness Services

Technician or
mechanicalsupport (42%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (24%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (67%)

Engineers/ scientists(28%)

Electricians(41%)

Technician or
mechanical support(21%)

Technician or
mechanical support(25%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (21%)

Installation
workers (27%)

Engineers/scientists(21%)

Management(directors, supervisors,
vice presidents) (19%)

Designers orarchitects (18%)

Less than a quarter of employees in 2018 were reported to be women (24 percent– half the proportion when compared to national workforce averages), and there
were fewer Black or African American workers and slightly fewer Hispanic or
Latino and Asian workers compared to the national workforce average. However,overall racial diversity in the energy efficiency workforce was equivalent to thenational workforce. Unionization rates in the Energy Efficiency sector in 2018 wereequivalent to the national average at 11 percent.

142

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 49.
Energy Efficiency Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018
Percent of

National Workforce

SectorAverages

1,767,865

76%

53%

Female557,000

24%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

365,427

16%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

1,959,438

84%

83%

American Indian or Alaska Native

32,553

1%

1%

Asian

120,5405%6%Black or African American

175,9148%

12%Native Hawaiian or other PacificIslander26,716

1%

>1%

White

1,811,682

78%

78%

Two or more races

157,460

7%2%

Veterans

235,38410%

6%

55 and over

327,072

14%

23%

Union

251,78511%11%

Demographic

Employees

Male

143

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Moto vehicles
144

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Motor Vehicles &Component Parts
Though not considered a sector of the Traditional Energy industry, the Motor
Vehicles and Component Parts sector,90 which include cars, light-duty and heavyduty trucks, trailers, and component parts of the foregoing, are included in thisreport, given both the high energy consumption of their manufacture and theircontribution to end-use energy consumption.

TRENDS••2017 Job Growth. The Motor Vehicles andComponent Parts sector employed 2,536,382
Americans in 2018, adding 74,000 employees tothe number employed in 2017. This figure
excludes dealerships and retailers, which
employed nearly two million additional workers.
Alternative fuels vehicles and hybrids. Within
the overal total for the sector, alternative fuelsvehicles and hybrids employed 253,598 workers
in 2018, an increase of nearly 34,000 in 2018 after
a significant decline in 2017.

3.0%
Motor Vehicle job
growth in 2018.

2.2%
Employers predict
2.2% Motor Vehicles
job growth in 2019.

•

Fuel economy. Over 486,000 employees in thecomponent parts segment of the sector (or 43
percent of component parts employees) workwith products that contribute to fuel economy.

•

2019 Expectations. Motor Vehicles and Component Parts employers
anticipate 2.2 percent growth in 2019.

90

Motor Vehicle and Component Parts employers are defined as any firm that contributes to the manufacture,
wholesale distribution, transport, and repair and maintenance of gasoline, diesel, hybrid, electric, natural gas,hydrogen and fuel cell, or other vehicle technologies.

145

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

SNAPSHOT OF EMPLOYMENT
Figure 93.
Motor Vehicle and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Industry,
2017-2018
1,010,598(+33,205)

Manufacturing953,997(+22,072)

Repair & Maintenance505,372(+16,468)

Wholesale Trade, Distribution, & Transport
66,415(+1,894)

Professional and Business

0400,000
2018

800,000

1,200,000

2017

Figure 92.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Detailed
Technology, 2017-2018
2,000,913(+26,631)

Gasoline and Diesel Motor Vehicles(excluding freight transport)
177,566 (+13,350)

Other

110,340 (+10,412)

Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles

67,973(+11,644)

Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles

52,931(+12,623)

Natural Gas Vehicles

12,545 (+208)

Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Vehicles

9,809 (-949)-

500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 2,000,000 2,500,000
2018

146

2017

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ALTERNATIVE FUELS VEHICLES AND HYBRIDS•

Alternative fuels vehicles and hybrids include hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid,electric, natural gas, and hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles.

•

10 percent of employees in the Motor Vehicles and Component Parts sector(or 253,599 employees) worked on alternative fuels vehicles.91•

82 percent of employees in the sector worked with gasoline and diesel fueled
motor vehicles.

•

4 percent worked in transport.

•

3 percent worked in professional services.

Figure 94.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Manufacturing Employment
by Detailed Technology Application, Q2 2018

635,825

209,260
23,574

98,3755,087 6,845 2,230

Gasoline and Hybrid Electric Plug-In Hybrid
Diesel Motor
Vehicles
Vehicles
Vehicles(excluding
freighttransport)

4,961

Electric
VehiclesMotor Vehicles

91

8,229

1,366

4,792 30Natural Gas
VehiclesHydrogen/Fuel
Cell Vehicles

Component Parts

Percentage is taken from Motor Vehicle employment exclusive of commodity flow employment.

147

>10

10,016Other

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019•

The above chart shows the division of manufacturing employment in eachtechnology between component parts and other occupations. 92•

The domestic manufacture of alternative fuels vehicles and hybrids grew
between 2017 and 2018 in most technologies, with hybrids adding almost
8,000 manufacturing jobs and plug-in and all electric vehicles adding 3,100.

•

However, domestic sales of electric and plug-in vehicles rose by over 81
percent in 2018, according to Inside EV.93

HIRING DIFFICULTY•

79 percent of other services employers in motor vehicles reported that itwas either somewhat or very difficult to hire new employees.

•

78 percent of manufacturing employers in motor vehicles reported
that it was somewhat difficult or very difficult to hire new employees. 36
percent reported it was very difficult.

•77 percent of professional and business services employers in motor
vehicles reported it was somewhat difficult to hire new employees.

92

Of the 376 employees within hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles that worked on component parts, fewer than 10
employees were focused on motor vehicles manufacturing.
93
Steven Loveday, “December 2018 U.S. Plug-In EV Sales Report Card,” InsideEVs, January 5, 2019,https://insideevs.com/december-2018-u-s-plug-in-ev-sales-report-card/

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

HIGHEST-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS IN MOTOR VEHICLESWith 3 percent growth in 2018 and predicted growth of almost 54,000 new jobs in
2019, motor vehicle employers have identified below the occupations that eachsector is having the greatest difficulty in filling.

Table 50.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts – Reported Occupations with
Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale Trade,
Manufacturing

Professional andDistribution, andBusiness Services

Transport

Other

Technician or
mechanicalsupport (52%)

Technician or
mechanical support(46%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (30%)

Technician or
mechanical support(80%)

Electrician/construction
workers (28%)

Drivers/dispatchers(25%)

Other (50%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (32%)

Manufacturing
or production
positions (12%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (20%)

Electrician/construction workers(17%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (11%)

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Spotlight: “Southwest Michigan isexperiencing an extreme shortage ofworkers.”
Melinda Ellsworth, VP of Investor Relations
and Corporate Communications, Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum is a leading producer of highly engineered aluminum products
for aerospace, general engineering, and automotive applications. Aluminum isinherently sustainable, indefinitely recyclable and one of the most effective
materials to achieve fuel efficiency standards.
In 2010, Kaiser opened a state-of-the-art rod and bar extrusion facility in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the heart of its market with access to a good talent pooland educational resources. The business has
continued to grow with the growth in automotive
extrusion applications as vehicle light weighting
for fuel efficiency drove greater conversion ofcomponents from steel to aluminum. The facility produces aluminum extrusions
for anti-lock braking systems, control arm assemblies and drive-train applications.
The 2019 USEER reported that 78% of motor vehicles’ manufacturers found it wasdifficult to hire new employees. “Southwest Michigan is experiencing an extreme
shortage of workers due to a historically low 3.4% unemployment rate,” said
Melinda Ellsworth, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. “We
are competing to attract talent with other manufacturers who are also hiring —many well-known and highly regarded employers. Although the shortage ofworkers poses a challenge, it has been especially challenging with the shortage ofskilled trades workers.”
Several initiatives to entice applicants include employee referral programs. Other
programs include sign-on bonuses for maintenance technicians; partnerships with
community colleges/other organizations; expanding the recruiting efforts outside
the local areas, offering in certain situations, full relocation; pursuing candidates
outside the traditional manufacturing experience pool and continuing to focus on
training and development employees.

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

INTRODUCTION
Three NAICS subsectors94 capture Motor Vehicles finished product manufacturing,
including automobiles, and light- and heavy-duty trucks, parts, body, and trailer
manufacturing. Together these three detailed industry sectors employed
1,010,598 workers in 2018. Motor vehicle and parts wholesalers and air, rail, water,or truck motor vehicle transport represent detailed NAICS subsectors within
Wholesale Trade and Distribution, and the QCEW reports the total number ofworkers who are employed by these firms in 2018 to be 505,372. Similarly, motor
vehicle repair95 and maintenance is captured by a single NAICS industry code
within the overall repair and maintenance industry sector; motor vehicle repair
and maintenance firms employed 953,997 workers in 2018. Professional andbusiness services are not motor vehicle-specific, but the USEER survey identified
66,415 workers who spent at least some time supporting the Motor Vehicles
sector in 2017. Nearly three in five (59 percent) of these professional and businessservices employees spent the majority of their time supporting the Motor Vehicle
and Component Parts sector, with 55 percent spending all of their time on thiswork.
Employers in the Motor Vehicles and Component Parts sector report projected
growth of 2.2 percent through the end of 2019. Manufacturing, the largest
industry in the Motor Vehicle and Component Parts sector, predicted 2.1% growthin 2019 or over 20,000 jobs. Professional and business services employers expect
their workforce to decline by one percent.

Figure 95.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Expected Employment
Growth by Industry (Q4 2018 – Q4 2019
2.1%

Manufacturing

2.4%

2.4%

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Professional Business
Services

Other
Services
Other

-0.7%

94

NAICS 3361, 3362, and 3363.
The official term for the NAICS category is Automotive Repair and Maintenance, which includes repair andmaintenance for light-duty and heavy-duty trucks. This is inconsistent with Manufacturing NAICS, which includes
delineations for light-duty and heavy-duty truck manufacturing.
95151

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES AND HYBRIDS
While the repair and maintenance industry sector actively works with alternativefuel vehicles and hybrids, there is difficulty delineating primary employment byfuel type for these firms, so it should be noted that employment totals included
for repair are based on best efforts by respondents to allocate their workforce byfuel type.96
Of the 2,432,078 Motor Vehicles and Component Parts jobs in 2018 (exclusive of
the 104,304 employees that were involved in the transport of motor vehicles),97 10
percent, or 253,598, focused on alternative fuel vehicles and hybrids, while 82
percent worked with traditional gasoline- and diesel-fueled motor vehicles.
In addition, USEER data identified 43 percent of component parts manufacturing
in 2018, or more than 486,000 jobs, that produce parts that increase fuel economy
in the United States. Note that there is some overlap between those who workwith alternative fuel vehicles and those that produce parts that increase fueleconomy.
In addition to the Motor Vehicles and Component Parts industries included in this2019 USEER, several other transportation industries use alternative fueltechnologies, focus on fuel economy, or both. These include aerospace productand parts manufacturing; railroad and rolling stock manufacturing; ship and boat
building; industrial truck, trailer, and stacker manufacturing; and othertransportation equipment manufacturing.
These manufacturing industries employed a total of more than 699,400 workers
nationwide in 2018. They encompass a wide range of detailed industries ranging
from boat building to guided missile manufacturing. Approximately 486,000 ofthese jobs (72 percent) are found in aviation and aerospace industries.

96

This analysis was conducted for the chapter; however, it is recognized that Motor Vehicle repair and maintenanceestablishments may have difficulty assigning primary employment to a worker who is involved in vehicles regardlessof fuel type. More research is required into the Motor Vehicle repair and maintenance industry sector in order tounderstand employment intensity for alternative fuel vehicles.
97
Extrapolated employment from commodity flow data for motor vehicles.

152

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 96.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Employment by Detailed
Technology, Q2 2018
2,000,913(+26,631)

Gasoline and Diesel Motor Vehicles(excluding freight transport)
177,566 (+13,350)

Other

110,340 (+10,412)

Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles

67,973(+11,644)

Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles

52,931(+12,623)

Natural Gas Vehicles

12,545 (+208)

Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Vehicles

9,809 (-949)-

1,000,000
2018

2,000,000

3,000,000

2017

As shown in Figure 97, approximately eight out of ten (78 percent) Motor Vehicle
parts firms offered parts in 2017 for gasoline and diesel motor vehicles, whilemore than 30 percent offered component parts for hybrid electric vehicles. 98

98

Firms were permitted to offer multiple responses, percentages sum to over 100 percent.

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 97.
Parts Offered by Type of Fuel Used, Component Parts
77.7%

30.4%
24.4%

25.8%
18.8%
14.6%
6.8%

Gasoline and Hybrid Electric Plug-In Hybrid
Diesel Motor
Vehicles
Vehicles
Vehicles(excluding
freighttransport)

Electric
Vehicles154

Natural Gas
VehiclesHydrogen/Fuel
Cell Vehicles

Other

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

MANUFACTURING
In 2018, gasoline and diesel motor vehicles represented nearly 84 percent of all
manufacturing employment in Motor Vehicles and Component Parts (downslightly from 85 percent in 2017). Six percent of manufacturing employment, or
57,116 jobs was focused on alternative fuel vehicles and hybrids, while 11 percent
was categorized within “other/multiple.” Of the 376 employees within hydrogenand fuel cell vehicles that worked on component parts, fewer than 10 employees
were focused on motor vehicles manufacturing.

Figure 98.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Manufacturing
Employment by Detailed Technology Application, Q2 2018

635,825

209,260
98,37523,574

5,087

Gasoline andHybrid Electric
Diesel Motor
Vehicles
Vehicles(excluding
freight transport)

6,845 2,230

4,961

1,366
4,792 30
8,229

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles
VehiclesMotor Vehicles

Natural Gas
VehiclesComponent Parts

155

>10

Hydrogen/Fuel
Cell Vehicles

10,016Other

U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

COMPONENT PARTS AND FUEL ECONOMY
In 2018, over 486,000 Component Parts employees worked with parts that
increase fuel economy for vehicles. This represents 43 percent of the 1,124,986
workers employed in the Component Parts segment of the sector in that year. The
Component Parts segment includes firms focused on vehicle engine and driveparts, exhaust system parts, vehicle body parts, and other vehicle parts (including
some battery production). This does not include mining and extraction forminerals used in vehicle parts production; high-strength, lightweight steel or rolled
aluminum manufacturing; or production equipment manufacturing.

Figure 99.
Fuel Economy Employment in Component Parts, Q2 2018
1,124,986

Total Employment
Fuel Economy
Employment
486,764More than one-fifth (22 percent) of firms that were involved in the Component
Parts segment in 2018 indicated that they derived all of their revenue fromproducts that increase fuel economy for these vehicles. This was a slight decreaseover the proportion of firms attributing all of their revenue to products that
increase fuel economy in 2017 (23 percent).

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 100.
Revenue Attributable to Products that Increase Fuel Economy

21.8%
All of it (100%)
10.0%

58.8%

Half to most of it (50% to 99%)

9.3%

A larger proportion of surveyed firms that primarily provide parts for light-duty
trucks received all of their revenue in 2018 from products that increase fueleconomy (32 percent), in comparison to firms that are mainly focused on heavyduty trucks (21 percent) or automobiles (10 percent).

Figure 101.
Revenue Attributable to Products that Increase Fuel Economy byPrimary Vehicle Type
100%
33.3%

80%
53.7%

66.2%
60%
31.7%
40%
27.1%

3.3%

9.6%

31.7%

20%

0%

9.6%
Automobiles

Light Duty Trucks

Less than a quarter (1% to 24%)
Half to most of it (50% to 99%)

11.3%
1.4%
21.1%
Heavy Duty Trucks

A quarter to almost half of it (25% to 49%)
All of it (100%)

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

MOTOR VEHICLES AND COMPONENT PARTS –WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS
In 2018, over two-thirds of employees in Motor Vehicles and Component Parts
were classified as workers in production/manufacturing positions (38 percent) or
installation or repair positions (30 percent).

Figure 102.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Occupational
Distribution, Q4 2018

6.8%

5.1%
Production/Manufacturing positions

7.1%
38.3%

Installation or Repair positions
Administrative positions

12.9%

Management/Professional positions
Sales positions
Other positions

29.9%

Other services firms reported the highest levels of overall hiring difficulty (79percent) in 2018. More than one-third of employers in professional and businessservices and manufacturing indicated that it was “very difficult” finding qualified
applicants for positions at their firm.

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Figure 103.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Hiring Difficulty by
Industry, Q4 2018

22%

24%

20%

40%

46%

37%

33%

Professional
Business Services

Other

33%

42%
56%
36%
11%
Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade,
Distribution andTransport

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult

Not at all difficult

Lack of experience, training, or technical skills was the number one reason forhiring difficulty as reported by manufacturing, wholesale trade, distribution, andtransport, and other services firms in Motor Vehicles and Component Parts. Twothirds of professional and business services employers that experienced hiring
difficult cited difficulty finding industry-specific knowledge, skills, and interest as
the primary reason.

Table 51.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Reasons for Hiring
Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale Trade,
Manufacturing

Distribution, andProfessional and Business
Services

Transport

Other

Lack of experience,

Lack of experience,

Difficulty finding industry-

Lack of experience,

training, or technicaltraining, or technicalspecific knowledge, skills,

training, or technicalskills (43%)

skills (38%)

and interest (67%)

skills (54%)

Insufficient non-Insufficient non-Lack of experience, training,

Insufficient non-technical skills (33%)

technical skills (37%)

or technical skills (43%)

technical skills (28%)

Competition/small

Competition/small

Cannot pass employment

Competition/small

applicant pool (16%)

applicant pool (16%)

screening (33%)

applicant pool (16%)

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

The following table lists the occupations that contribute to the most hiring
difficulty for employers within Motor Vehicles and Component Parts, by industry.

Table 52.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Reported Occupations
with Hiring Difficulty by Industry, Q4 2018
Wholesale Trade,
Manufacturing

Professional andDistribution, andBusiness Services

Transport

Other

Technician or
mechanicalsupport (52%)

Technician or
mechanical support(46%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (30%)

Technician or
mechanical support(80%)

Electrician/construction
workers (28%)

Drivers/dispatchers(25%)

Other (50%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (32%)

Manufacturing
or production
positions (12%)

Sales, marketing, or
customer service
representatives (20%)

Electrician/construction
workers (17%)

Management(directors,
supervisors, vicepresidents) (11%)

Over one-fifth of all workers in Motor Vehicles in 2018 were women (23 percent).
Workers 55 years of age or older represented 20 percent of the workforce, adecline from 2017 (22 percent reported in 2017). The Motor Vehicles industry ismore unionized than the workforce generally.

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U.S. ENERGY AND EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2019

Table 53.
Motor Vehicles and Component Parts Sector – Demographics, Q4 2018
Employees

Percent of

National Workforce

SectorAveragesMale

1,882,023

77%

53%

Female550,055

23%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

414,757

17%

17%

Not Hispanic or Latino

2,017,321

83%

83%

American Indian or
Alaska Native

37,996

2%

1%

Asian

118,0125%

6%

190,8678%

12%

13,017

1%

>1%

White

1,895,483

78%

78%

Two or more races

176,702

7%

2%

Veterans

219,5609%6%

55 and over

481,518

20%

23%

Union

321,717

13%

11%Black or African
AmericanNative Hawaiian orother Pacific Islander161