The aim of the Good Jobs and Workforce Development team is economic justice in the clean energy transition by promoting high-quality careers and greater access to good jobs for disadvantaged populations. We offer advice and assistance to EERE program offices with integrating the principles and practices of a High Road approach to employment and training centered on quality jobs, social equity, and climate resilience.

The Good Jobs & Workforce Development team focuses on middle-skill occupations (e.g., the construction trades-workers, mechanics, production-line workers) and on linking the demand and supply sides of the labor market to ensure workforce investments lead to quality career pathways, all in support of a fair and inclusive clean energy economy.

Energy jobs are growing faster than total U.S. employment, with increasing representation among women, people of color, veterans, and union workers, but employers are having difficulty hiring qualified staff. Read the 2023 U.S. Energy and Employment Report for details on the successes, challenges, and opportunities.

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About the Clean Energy Jobs and Workforce Accelerator

The Opportunity: At a time of historic investment in clean energy deployment, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) is interested in the creation of good, family-supporting careers in clean energy that are accessible to everyone, including individuals with employment barriers and under-represented populations.

The emphasis on deployment is generating greater demand for skilled workers in middle-skill occupations (i.e., occupations that require more than a high school diploma and less than a four-year, postsecondary degree), particularly in manufacturing and construction trades involved in producing, building, installing, operating, and maintaining clean energy equipment, facilities, and infrastructure.

The Need: Education and training organizations, industry, and others continue making significant progress toward creating curricula and credentials that support development of a skilled and diverse clean energy workforce.

Complementary efforts to address the quality and accessibility of jobs are needed to match the scale of opportunity, and EERE is exploring how it might fill this gap by building the know-how and supporting partnerships in communities to advance economic equity across clean energy sectors.

The Concept: EERE is in the process of hosting workshops to hear from a diverse set of stakeholders to gauge interest and gather input on how it could meet this momentous opportunity and need. For instance, EERE could create a program to train and support place-based coalitions aimed at ensuring clean energy programs and investments result in good jobs and greater access to them for disadvantaged workers and populations.

These coalitions could go through training to learn about High Road economic and workforce development practices, receive funding to implement local initiatives applying knowledge gained, and have access to subject matter experts who provide ongoing technical assistance.

The vision is economic justice in the transition to clean energy: that coalitions of labor, community, industry, education and workforce, and government stakeholders seize the momentous opportunity to create good jobs, develop a skilled and diverse workforce, and reduce economic inequality while advancing clean energy deployment.

Consider participating in a Clean Energy Jobs & Workforce Accelerator workshop to contribute your thoughts and perspectives!