The U.S. Department of Energy has released the 2021 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), which combines surveys of businesses with public labor data to produce estimates of employment and workforce characteristics. The report finds a clear decline in the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic – specifically, a loss of 840,000 jobs or 10% by the end of 2020 – but also identifies positive signs of regrowth and rebound in energy investments and jobs. It also finds net growth in electric vehicle, energy storage, and wind generation employment.
NASEO’s Managing Director of Policy Sandy Fazeli joined U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Chris Bullinger of Hecate Energy, Pedro Pizarro of Edison International, and Madeline Janis of Jobs to Move America for a virtual roundtable event, “Investing in America’s Energy Sector: An Opportunity to Recover and Build Back Better,” to discuss the report’s findings.
DOE’s USEER release marks the return of the report management to the agency, after being produced by NASEO, the Energy Futures Initiative, and BW Research since 2017.