BOSTON — Massachusetts’s lofty mid-century climate goals hinge upon the state’s ability to convince residents and businesses to make the switch from fossil fuels to cleaner electric power, but success will also require tens of thousands of people to take new jobs in the clean energy sector.
A new workforce needs assessment released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) found that the state’s clean energy workforce will need to grow by 29,700 full-time equivalent workers in order for Massachusetts to meet its target of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
And during a time of low unemployment and a declining labor force participation rate, MassCEC said getting there will actually require 38,100 workers to be trained and ready to work some or all of their time on climate-critical jobs.
“The transition needed is daunting in scale,” MassCEC CEO Jennifer Daloisio said. “The clean energy industry must grow by nearly 30% by 2030 and 74% by 2050 amid an incredibly tight labor market, and our future clean energy workforce must expand through inclusive practices that recognize that a diverse workforce is a robust and resilient workforce.”
Like many employers across Massachusetts, clean energy companies are already having trouble hiring new workers. MassCEC said that 88% of sector employers surveyed in 2022 said they faced challenges in securing talent for clean energy positions.
“The rapid expansion that needs to occur across all sectors of the clean energy economy will further exacerbate labor shortages and hiring difficulties,” the MassCEC report said. “Without significant and purposeful intervention, there will simply not be enough interested and qualified job seekers for the number of additional workers needed, as many of the highest-growth clean energy positions will also be in high demand by other industries in the economy.”
The number of jobs in Massachusetts is expected to increase 21% by 2030, while the workforce itself will grow just 1.5% in the same span, Associated Industries of Massachusetts CEO John Regan said in February, citing data from the Department of Economic Research.
In the early education space, high turnover helps fuel a workforce shortage that cuts into availability. Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw said in March that more than a third of center-based programs were serving fewer children than their licensed capacity, leaving about 10,000 slots “not currently available” due to staffing shortages. A 2022 study found that more than two-thirds of licensed early education and care programs in Massachusetts have unfilled positions.
The MBTA has been offering a slate of incentives to attract potential bus operators, rail repairers, track laborers, streetcar operators, subway train operators, service technicians and more. The Mass. Taxpayers Foundation estimated in April that the T needed to hire 2,800 workers in the next 12 months in order to maintain system operations.
In January, the ratio of unemployed persons per job opening in Massachusetts was 0.5, according to the most recent data made available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means that for every two job openings, there is one unemployed person who could theoretically fill the job. The ratio has been less than 1.0 in Massachusetts since July 2021, the bureau said.
Because of the competitiveness of the labor market, MassCEC’s report said the clean energy sector should try to attract workers by tapping into “strategies that not only expand pipelines of clean energy workers, but also increase awareness.”
That includes working with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education initiatives that already are focused on early career awareness and exploration.
“Whenever I speak with young people who want to make a difference, I tell them that the heroes of the clean energy transition will be electricians, plumbers, and builders,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said. “Exposure to these valuable careers to students at younger ages will place them on successful paths of upward growth.”