Finding the Right Fit: What Jobs Offer a Good Match for Fossil Fuel Workers’ Skills?

The imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions necessitates major changes in the domestic and global energy sector. However, one concern is whether workers currently employed in the coal, oil, and natural gas industries will be able to access alternative employment opportunities with comparable levels of pay, inside or outside of the low-emissions energy sector. A related question is whether current educational programs are sufficient to train the large workforce that will be needed to rapidly deploy the range of technologies required to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This analysis provides early evidence on these questions by analyzing data on occupational skills across the US economy. We find that a substantial number of occupations offer a good “skills match” for today’s fossil fuel workforce, but most of those occupations pay considerably less than jobs in fossil fuel extraction, refining, transportation, and power generation. Occupations that frequently offer a good-match with comparable pay are found mainly in transportation, construction, and rail industries. Several low-emissions sectors, particularly critical minerals mining, hydrogen, carbon capture, and energy-related civil engineering and construction, offer a substantial number of jobs with similar levels of pay and a good skills match for fossil fuel workers. We find that educational programs training workers to work with low-emissions technologies are fairly modest in scope, with the largest number in construction and heat pump installation and maintenance. We also find that in most cases, there is a positive correlation between where low-carbon technologies are being deployed and where workers are being trained to build and operate those technologies.