When 20% of Your Workforce is Retiring: Employment Challenges for Electric Power

摘要

A staggering 60%+ of the electric power work-force in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. is aged 45 or older. About 17% of the current workforce is expected to retire by 2018. And employers anticipate having to work much harder than in the past to fill available positions. These results are just the tip of the iceberg from a study released in October by researchers from the Washington State University Energy Program. This 2013 labor market study sought to uncover the workforce challenges electric power employers in the Pacific Northwest face. The study was conducted as part of a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid Workforce project grant administered by the Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 16 regional electric power employers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington that collectively employ nearly 28,000 workers (see Table 1). Data were collected on five craft and four professional utility occupations (see Table 2).