The Energy Workforce Revolution

Alex Rivera 4

Alright, welcome back to Digest This: Unpacking Our Sustainable Future. I'm Alex—joined, as always, by the always-insightful Emily. Emily, it's wild to think about how fast things are changing in the energy space lately. The numbers from that new IEA World Energy Employment report really just blew me away.

Emily Nguyen 4

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, Alex. When you see that global energy sector employment actually grew by 2.2% last year—almost double what we’re seeing in the wider economy—it makes you pause. The sector hit 76 million jobs worldwide in 2024. That’s up more than 5 million just since 2019. I mean, that’s a scale you don’t see in many industries.

Alex Rivera 4

Exactly, and it’s not just the number of jobs, right? It's where that growth is coming from. The power sector is basically the new heavyweight—it's now the biggest employer in all of energy, which, if you’d told me that a decade ago, I would have said: “Wait, what about oil and gas?” But nope, the scene is shifting.

Emily Nguyen 4

It really is. And solar PV is the top story here—just a surge in jobs, along with big expansions in nuclear power, modernization of grids, storage, and, you know, things like EV and battery manufacturing. That move toward electrification in other sectors is just opening up job opportunities left and right. I think jobs in EVs and batteries went up by something like 800,000, just last year. But it is important to note that we are talking about global numbers here, not just the U.S.

Alex Rivera 4

And let’s not forget: fossil fuels still have a beating heart in the labor market. I always wanna emphasize that these transitions don’t just erase entire sections of the workforce overnight. Coal jobs jumped back up in places like India, China, and Indonesia—actually about 8% higher than in 2019 in those countries. Oil and gas also bounced back a lot of jobs lost during the pandemic—though, how long that lasts, especially with prices bouncing all over, remains to be seen.

Emily Nguyen 4

Right, and the IEA is already hinting that energy employment growth might slow down a bit moving into next year—with tighter labor markets and some companies being more cautious because of trade or geopolitical tensions. But just stepping back, it almost feels like the energy sector’s held up the entire job market during a time when a lot of other industries have been... well, struggling, at best. It’s an impressive engine for job creation lately.

Emily Nguyen 4

But, and there's a big but here, this hiring momentum has a catch. And it’s becoming really clear: the skills gap is almost as big a headline as the job creation story. The IEA surveyed over 700 companies and unions, and over half of them said they’re running into serious trouble filling technical roles. That includes everyone—from electricians and nuclear engineers to plant operators and line workers. I was a little stunned to see that these direct technical jobs now make up more than half the global energy workforce.

Alex Rivera 4

Yeah, and it’s not just that the jobs are hard to fill—it’s that the folks who do have those skills are retiring out faster than we can replace them, especially in advanced economies. The stat I can’t get outta my head was for every new energy worker under 25 entering the field, there are 2.4 heading toward retirement. And it’s even more intense in nuclear and grid work, where retirements outpace new recruits by more than 1.5 to one. That’s a real bottleneck.

Emily Nguyen 4

To even keep up, we’d need to increase qualified new entrants to this field by about 40% by 2030. That’s a huge jump, and the barriers are kind of the usual suspects—training costs, just not being aware of these jobs, and not enough room or equipment in training programs to teach enough people at once. So even while these are decent-paying jobs, a lot of young folks either don’t know about them or see too many hurdles.

Alex Rivera 4

I’m glad you mentioned training, Emily. Remember in our episode about biogas, we talked about what the American Biogas Council is doing—trying to boost the number of certified professionals so projects can scale quickly? That kind of coordinated approach seems like something the whole sector could learn from. They’re really focusing on safety, practical hands-on training, and even helping people see that these are stable, long-term careers instead of just niche technical gigs.

Emily Nguyen 4

Yeah, absolutely. It's exactly those efforts that highlight a way forward. Bridging this skills gap isn’t just about dumping money into training—though a little, um, reportedly $2.6 billion more per year worldwide would go a long way—it’s about awareness, mentorship, and giving folks a clear on-ramp into these roles. Without solving this, all those shiny job creation numbers might not translate into real progress or, honestly, project completion.

Alex Rivera 4

So here’s where policy and innovation come storming in to save the day—or at least try. Policy measures, and I know sometimes people’s eyes glaze over when they hear that, but stuff like financial incentives for trainees, bigger apprenticeship programs, and even just letting industry folks tell schools what actually needs to be taught—those can really change the picture fast. Give people an actual motivation and a clear path and watch what happens.

Emily Nguyen 4

And it’s starting already. The U.S. Department of Energy recently picked the Tennessee Valley Authority and Holtec to push forward with deploying Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs. These aren’t just about making cleaner power, they come with whole new training pipelines and job tracks. It’s a concrete example of how investing in future tech = investing in jobs—especially local, high-skill roles we badly need.

Alex Rivera 4

Yeah, and what's neat is how initiatives like SMR deployment let you actually design education and apprenticeships alongside the tech roll-out. It's sort of—ah, what’s the word—integrated, right? Industry gets a say, policies get tailored, and folks come out with real credentials ready for where the jobs actually are versus training for something obsolete. Feels like a model that should be showing up across the entire energy transition, honestly.

Emily Nguyen 4

Exactly. And resilience, which we’ve touched on before with grid upgrades or biogas systems, depends so much on this cross-collaboration. If we want the energy transition to be both fast and equitable, we have to get policy, education, and industry in the same room, building bridges and job pipelines at every stage. It’s not easy, but nothing about transforming the entire global energy system ever is.

Alex Rivera 4

Alright Emily, I think that’s a perfect place to put a bookmark in it for today. The challenges are real, but so is the momentum—and if we get policy and training to catch up, there’s a genuine chance here to build something better for everyone. Any final thoughts before we wrap up?

Emily Nguyen 4

Just that there’s so much more to dig into. But for now, that’s it from me.

Alex Rivera 4

Always a pleasure, Emily. Thanks for another great conversation—and thanks to everyone for listening to Digest This. Catch you all in the next episode!

Emily Nguyen 4

Thanks, Alex. Take care, everyone. See you next time!