Home Energy Rebates funds will only benefit households, businesses, and the economy if there is a robust workforce to manufacture, deploy, install, and repair home energy technologies. Program administrators should conduct workforce landscape analyses to determine how the rebate programs can pull more workers into this industry by offering opportunities for good jobs with competitive wages and pathways to career advancement.
The Home Efficiency Rebates and the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates together will support an estimated 50,000 residential construction jobs around the country, along with thousands of other jobs in occupations related to program management and professional services. Supporting this workforce will build local economies everywhere these jobs are, enable business innovation, and unlock opportunities to continue deployment of energy-efficient measures.
Recommendations for Program Administrators
Most workers supported with job opportunities from the Home Energy Rebates will be residential construction trade workers. Program administrators should review labor market information regarding relevant trade occupations, including but not limited to construction laborers, carpenters, electricians, sheet metal workers, insulators, roofers, plumbers, and other building trades.
Programs should identify which locally based organizations are supporting these workers today and partner with them to align priorities. Relevant organizations include but are not limited to labor organizations, apprenticeship training centers, technical colleges, trade schools, and workforce development boards. Learn more about collaborating with workforce organizations in DOE’s Residential Program Guide.
Skilled worker participation in the Home Energy Rebate programs is vital to achieving program goals. Hundreds of thousands of workers are currently employed in the residential construction sector, particularly as carpenters and construction laborers, but they are not often employed on residential energy upgrade projects.
States should ensure that low wage rates are not preventing workers from applying for jobs in deploying Home Energy Rebates. Many contracts for residential efficiency drive downward wage pressure on workers as bidders try to meet narrow cost-benefits tests, demands for lowest-cost funding awards, and consumer needs for low upfront costs. The Department of Energy strongly encourages states to set wage standards for qualified contractors to counteract this downward wage pressure that dampens worker interest to participate in these programs.
The Home Energy Rebates can support broader market transformation if the systems and resources used in these programs also provide wider value. By collaborating with industry stakeholders throughout program design and deployment, states may direct their funding resources to take on activities that will support rebates deployment, as well as overall workforce development and higher market efficiency.
The Department of Energy (DOE) strongly recommends that program administrators work with industry to align skills standards, training programs, workforce credentials, and data systems. Similarly, DOE cautions states from developing new standards, programs, credentials, or systems unless review of the market presents a gap best filled by the state. Programs should collaborate with State Labor Offices, Workforce Boards, and community colleges to review existing programs and needs. Learn more about assessing workforce needs in DOE’s Residential Program Guide.
In cases where states are also applying for State-Based Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training Grants (IRA Section 50123), programs should directly reference the same skills and credentials across both grants. For example, if a State will deliver certain skills, certifications, or credentials as part of their residential contractor training program, the State’s Home Energy Rebates programs should require those same skills, certifications, and credentials for contractors hired to complete Home Energy Rebate program projects. Doing so will help drive attainment of these skills, certifications, and credentials and support a more highly skilled residential energy workforce and more capable residential energy sector.
Many businesses and workers could help drive this industry forward but have not had access to sufficient opportunities for training, business investment, or other support services. Programs should consider coordinating the rollout of the Home Energy Rebates with the Residential Energy Contractor Training Grants (IRA Section 50123) and ensure that underserved and underrepresented workers and businesses are prioritized for related workforce and business development opportunities.
Programs should ensure that the workforce completing Home Energy Rebates work is generally representative of the state’s population and supported with Department of Commerce and Department of Labor Good Jobs Principles. Program administrators should explore on-the-job training opportunities, including apprenticeship programs, as a method for bringing new workers onto Home Energy Rebates-supported jobsites. States may include requirements for apprentices and workers from disadvantaged communities as part of the labor standards for approved contractor lists.
For the residential efficiency sector to grow, it must be successful at recruiting more workers to in-demand jobs. Recruitment will only be successful if employers are offering good jobs that follow work safety standards, offer good wages and benefits, and support professional development and career mobility. The Department of Energy (DOE) recommends that states ensure rebates are deployed through pathways that offer workers with a compelling value proposition to join this workforce, develop market innovations, and stay in the sector beyond depletion of the rebate funds. Learn more about setting workforce goals and objectives in DOE’s Residential Program Guide.
In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Department of Energy is identifying necessary skills for specific scopes of work relevant to various home energy upgrades. The resultant Building Science Education Solution Center includes dozens of free green building content modules, identified key concept knowledge areas, and pathways for workforce training programs to receive recognition for their alignment with these concepts. Program administrators should explore referring to these recognized certifications as part of established skills standards for the Home Energy Rebates.
Relevant Links
- Growing the Green Buildings Workforce Factsheet: A DOE fact sheet outlining the benefits of strengthening the workforce in the green building sector.
- Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative: Resources regarding aspects of “good jobs,” including pay and benefits, workplace safety and health, example workforce initiatives, and more.
- DOE Building Science Education Solution Center: A resource that provides ready-to-use training modules and resources identified by technology area, occupation, and skill achievement. Certification and credentialing programs may also seek recognition from DOE based on their program’s coverage of key concept knowledge areas identified by work scope.