The recently released United States Energy and Employment Report 2024 is a partnership report of national and state data representing domestic energy employment. While providing an energy and employment synopsis for each state and the District of Columbia, it provides robust detail in the areas of electric power generation, transmission, distribution, storage, fuels, energy efficiency, and motor vehicles and component parts. While the report snapshots each state, it identifies the top five leaders by state.
According to the report, the state of Texas leads the group with 969,801 energy jobs. California provides 932,273 of its own energy positions, with Florida and Ohio following behind at 351,934 and 333, 110 respectively. Although Texas contains most of the energy jobs, Wyoming finished on top at 16.2 percent when analyzing energy jobs as a percentage of the total number of jobs per state. At the same time, North Dakota and West Virginia provide energy jobs within their states; less than 14 percent make up the total number of jobs in those states. While they might gain little media attention, Michigan offers energy jobs that comprise 9.1 percent of the state’s total job market.
When studying growth throughout the energy sector, Texas claimed the most significant overall net growth. California, North Carolina, Alabama, and Michigan followed. Indiana, however, witnessed a fall in total energy employment by 3,300 jobs. When measuring growth between 2022 and 2023, the fastest growth rate influenced the job markets across Alabama, Utah, and North Carolina.
As the oil and gas sector and the alternative energy market become more aligned and embraced as the energy industry, clean energy jobs have become more in demand and available throughout the country. Exclusive of traditional transmission and distribution careers, clean energy jobs are available across all fifty states. California with 545,207, New York with 177,202, Florida with 172,115, and Illinois with 10,473 claimed the top of the most significant number of clean energy careers list. Further analysis, however, shows that when considering clean energy jobs as a percental of the job market, Vermont, Massachusetts, California, South Dakota, and Maryland lead the other states of the union.
Renewable electric power generation is another career area growing in popularity and demand. It is also offered in all fifty states. The District of Columbia also made this list. California displayed 147,161 renewable electric power generation jobs. Texas took second with 50,138, and Florida and New York followed with 29,146 and 27,384.
When the electrical grid’s demand increased, jobs within the transmission, distribution, and storage sectors experienced high-level growth throughout the country. North Carolina experienced most of that growth, adding 9,600 jobs. Michigan followed and added 4,200 additional jobs, while Georgia, South Carolina, and Arizona added a combined 11,200 new jobs.
When providing data directed at energy employment, it included jobs within the motor vehicle industry. Michigan has always been the state associated with motor vehicle manufacturing, and it continues its tenure, offering 254,899 motor vehicle jobs. California followed with 234,932, while Texas, Indiana, and Ohio saw a combined 548,303 jobs within the motor vehicle sector.
The U.S. Energy and Employment Report 2024 provides comparisons drawn on each state. Texas and California surpassed other states in multiple areas. Surprisingly, other energy-producing states like Louisiana and Oklahoma experienced moderate growth but not in proportion with different regions. With the onset of the presidential election and the current and future forecast of the economy, next year’s report could depict a different outcome. For now, the growth identified should positively impact the domestic energy sector.
Nick Vaccaro is a freelance writer and photographer. In addition to providing technical writing services, he is an HSE consultant in the oil and gas industry with twelve years of experience. Vaccaro also contributes to SHALE Oil and Gas Business Magazine, American Oil and Gas Investor, Oil and Gas Investor, Energies Magazine and Louisiana Sportsman Magazine. He has a BA in photojournalism from Loyola University and resides in the New Orleans area. Vaccaro can be reached at 985-966-0957 or [email protected].
