Report: Labor crunch threatens clean energy expansion
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The report says nearly 30,000 new workers are needed to hit the 2030 emissions goal.
Massachusetts's lofty mid-century climate goals hinge upon the state's ability to convince residents and businesses to make the switch from fossil fuels to cleaner electric power, but success will also require tens of thousands of people to take new jobs in the clean energy sector.
A new workforce needs assessment released Wednesday from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) found that the state's clean energy workforce will need to grow by an additional 29,700 full-time equivalent workers in order for Massachusetts to meet its target of a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
And during a time of low unemployment and a declining labor force participation rate, MassCEC said getting there will actually require 38,100 workers to be trained and ready to work some or all of their time on climate-critical jobs.
"The transition needed is daunting in scale," MassCEC CEO Jennifer Daloisio said. She added, "The clean energy industry must grow by nearly 30 percent by 2030 and 74 percent by 2050 amid an incredibly tight labor market, and our future clean energy workforce must expand through inclusive practices that recognize that a diverse workforce is a robust and resilient workforce."
Like many employers across Massachusetts, clean energy companies are already having trouble hiring new workers. MassCEC said that 88 percent of sector employers surveyed in 2022 said that they faced challenges in securing talent for clean energy positions.
"The rapid expansion that needs to occur across all sectors of the clean energy economy will further exacerbate labor shortages and hiring difficulties," the MassCEC report said. "Without significant and purposeful intervention, there will simply not be enough interested and qualified job seekers for the number of additional workers needed, as many of the highest-growth clean energy positions will also be in high demand by other industries in the economy."
Clean energy is far from the only sector that will need to bulk up in order to fulfill what is expected of it in coming years, and far from the only sector facing serious challenges in that regard. The number of jobs in Massachusetts is expected to increase 21 percent by 2030, while the workforce itself will grow just 1.5 percent in the same span, Associated Industries of Massachusetts CEO John Regan said in February, citing data from the Department of Economic Research.
In the early education space, high turnover helps fuel a potent workforce shortage that cuts into availability. Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw said in March that more than a third of center-based programs were serving fewer children than their licensed capacity, leaving about 10,000 slots "not currently available" due to staffing shortages. A 2022 study found that more than two-thirds of licensed early education and care programs in Massachusetts have unfilled positions and that, on average, there are three open positions per program.
The MBTA has been offering a slate of incentives to attract potential bus operators, rail repairers, track laborers, streetcar operators, subway train operators, service technicians and more. The Mass. Taxpayers Foundation estimated in April that the T needed to hire 2,800 workers in the next 12 months in order to maintain system operations.
In January, the ratio of unemployed persons per job opening in Massachusetts was 0.5, according to the most recent data made available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means that for every two job openings, there is one unemployed person who could theoretically fill the job. The ratio has been less than 1.0 in Massachusetts since July 2021, BLS said.
Because of the competitiveness of the labor market, MassCEC's report said the clean energy sector will have try to attract workers by tapping into "strategies that not only expand pipelines of clean energy workers, but also increase awareness, access and engagement within communities and populations who have been historically disadvantaged, excluded, and over-burdened by climate change, pollution and rising energy costs to enter these pipelines to fully meet the growing labor needs of the clean energy industry and to ensure that the tremendous economic opportunities born out of statewide decarbonization are accessible to all."
That includes things like generating greater awareness of career possibilities in clean energy (MassCEC runs www.cleanenergyeducation.org to share such information), forging partnerships with workforce development organizations and community organizations that could customize the messaging to resonate with different demographic groups and communities, and working with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education initiatives that already are focused on early career awareness and exploration.
"Whenever I speak with young people who want to make a difference, I tell them that the heroes of the clean energy transition will be electricians, plumbers, and builders," Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said. "Exposure to these valuable careers to students at younger ages will place them on successful paths of upward growth. We have the knowledge, tools, and passion to strategically build the skilled workforce necessary to achieve our ambitious decarbonization goals, and this report tells us on what sectors we can focus our efforts."
MassCEC projected that decarbonization efforts will lead to new jobs across 144 distinct occupations, but said that 65 percent of all employment growth will occur across just 20 occupations. And the jobs expected to be high-growth or that are more likely to cause workforce bottlenecks will require particular attention, the MassCEC report said.
"For example, keeping pace with the demand for Electricians, a career that requires between four to five years of training, will necessitate concurrently expanding existing training programs and establishing additional programs, including pre-apprenticeship opportunities," the report said. "Leveraging the training pipelines of unions and their existing waitlist of interested workers could rapidly address some of the projected workforce gaps, but doing so requires increased coordination of state construction and clean energy projects overseen by organized labor and measures to expand the amount and ways in which Master Electricians support a rising generation of workers."
The report also suggested that "proactive planning and investment in reskilling" could help the state transition workers from the fossil fuel industry into the clean energy industry.
"For example, occupations such as Pipefitters Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters are projected to see an increase in demand through 2030, but may see fossil fuel-related decline in later decades. With proper workforce planning, this decline could be offset by the rise of technologies such as green hydrogen, which is on a similar time horizon and could present opportunities to transition these workers into clean energy roles."
MassCEC estimated that the number of fossil fuel jobs in Massachusetts will decrease from 58,000 to 56,000 (down 3.4 percent) by 2030. Decreased demand for gas station attendants represents the greatest potential loss of fossil fuel-related jobs by the end of this decade, the report said.
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