Energizing the Workforce: Workforce Woes

Digging deep into workforce trends, issues, or outliers can be described as a daunting task by some. I strongly suggest that uncovering the foundational expectations or standards in our industry can only aid in our ability to positively change our sector. Let’s start this conversation with demographics or characteristics of the Energy Efficiency sector of the entire industry.

The information below was provided in a study done at the end of 2016 by the US Department of Energy centered around EE workforce trends across the United States. This specific section of the industry is less diverse than the national average when it comes to gender, race, and age. Only 24% of total EE employees are women, there are fewer Black or African American workers, and slightly fewer Hispanic of Latino workers compared to the national average. For a more in-depth breakdown of these statistics, please see the chart below.

What’s your initial reaction when looking at this chart? Shocked, surprised, or neither? I was stunned when looking at these numbers and did not believe it at first. As mentioned before, our industry consists of almost 2.2 MILLION within the United States, and it expected to grow an additional 9% in the next year. With a growth rate of that magnitude, our role in the workforce industry becomes more integral as time passes.

 Food for Thought:

How can we change these numbers?
How can we change our scope by including populations that are not represented?
When does our role as employees/employers make the biggest difference?