Energy and Employment Report reveals growth in energy efficiency jobs

The U.S. energy sector added 133,000 jobs in 2017, including 67,000 in energy efficiency jobs, according to the 2018 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) released Wednesday.

Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-WA), former Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz, National Association of State Energy Officials Executive Director David Terry and David Foster, distinguished associate with the Energy Futures Initiative, unveiled the report at an event on Capitol Hill.

“We know that the energy sector, the third largest [industry] in the U.S., is continuing to grow,” Cantwell said. “We know that there are ever increasing technologies that are related to renewables and energy efficiency that make our cars, our homes, our buildings and even us smarter, and help drive down costs for consumers and businesses. Our nation is embarking on one of the greatest economic opportunities, and that is a clean, efficient, energy economy.”

The report examined four sectors of the economy: Electric Power Generation and Fuels; Transmission, Distribution, and Storage; Energy Efficiency; and Motor Vehicles.

Energy efficiency employers created the most new jobs of the four sectors, while Washington had the most energy efficiency jobs of any state.

Energy efficiency employment is expected to grow by another 9 percent in 2018, and energy efficiency construction jobs are projected to increase by 11 percent.

The report also found that natural gas electric generation added more than 19,000 new jobs. Solar energy jobs decreased by 24,000 in 2017, the first net jobs loss since statistics were first collected in 2010. Solar energy companies employed, in whole or part, 350,000 individuals in 2017.

Of all employers surveyed for USEER, 70 percent reported difficulty hiring qualified workers over the last 12 months.

“Trained workers are a critical part of making all these solutions scalable, and the energy industry is facing a shortage,” Cantwell said. “We want to continue ensuring the U.S. is a leader in developing these [energy] technologies and in training…a workforce that will help us deliver.”