There’s been a lot of talk about the federal Inflation Reduction Act and the jobs it’s going to create in clean energy manufacturing and installation. But a big question remains: Who’s going to fill them?
The climate bill’s passage last year has already sparked more than 100,000 new clean energy jobs for electricians, mechanics, construction workers, and others, according to environmental coalition Climate Power. But with the U.S. already short hundreds of thousands of construction and manufacturing workers as of last year, companies will probably have a hard time hiring, Politico reports.
One possible hiring pool? The shrinking fossil fuel industry. Amid layoffs and cautious hiring at oil and gas companies, executives and workers say they’ve seen a steady movement of geologists, engineers and other former fossil fuel workers to renewable energy jobs, the New York Times reports.
Consulting firm McKinsey has its doubts, though. It projects the U.S. will see 550,000 new energy transition jobs by 2030, but people leaving the fossil fuel industry will fill just 10% of them.
That means it may start taking even longer to construct an offshore wind farm or put solar panels on a roof — and there’s no better time to consider a career change.
Original article: https://energynews.us/newsletter/clean-energy-jobs-are-booming-whos-filling-them/
