EASING THE EXODUS

摘要

Innovative personnel strategies can combat the loss of technical skills. Aging baby boomers, who constitute more than 25 percent of the U.S. population, are nearing retirement, a fact reflected in the demographic profile of the power generation industry workforce. A recent study by Krishnan & Associates (K&A) on the aging workforce trends at U.S. coal-fired power plants, the cornerstone of the nation's power supply, found that the average age of the workforce at the power plants is approximately 48 years. With nearly half the technical and plant management personnel approaching retirement age, power plants face losing skilled, talented individuals who possess vital plant operating and maintenance knowledge. Furthermore, with the changing demographics, specialized labor to replace this talent pool is likely to be in short supply and difficult to recruit. As a result, the changing workforce demographics represent a vital concern for power plant owners.