Why energy sector is emerging as world’s fastest-growing employment frontier
Global energy employment hit 76 million in 2024, growing nearly twice as fast as the wider economy, the IEA reports, but warns severe skills shortages could slow future expansion.
Global demand for clean and conventional energy is transforming the labour market, positioning the energy sector as the world’s fastest-growing employment frontier.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy jobs are expanding at a pace almost double that of the wider global economy.
“Strong investment in energy infrastructure drove a 2.2 per cent rise in energy jobs last year, nearly double the rate of employment growth for the wider global economy,” IEA said in its 2025 World Energy Employment report.
It highlights that global energy employment reached 76 million in 2024, an increase of more than five million workers since 2019.
This is mainly on the back of strong investment in power systems, grid upgrades and clean-energy manufacturing.
Additionally, IEA says the sector accounted for 2.4 per cent of all net new jobs created globally in the past five years.
Commenting on the findings, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said energy has been one of the strongest and most consistent engines of job creation in the global economy during a period marked by significant uncertainties.
The power sector leads this surge, having contributed three-quarters of all new jobs and overtaking fuel supply as the largest employer in the energy industry in the year under review.
Solar PV remains the biggest driver of new opportunities, supported by robust hiring in nuclear, electricity grids and storage.
Meanwhile, rapid electrification in other sectors, particularly transport, helped push employment in EV and battery manufacturing up by nearly 800,000 positions.
Fossil fuel employment shows resilience as well, with coal jobs rebounding sharply.
The coal industry’s workforce is now eight per cent higher than in 2019, despite contractions in advanced economies.
Oil and gas roles have also recovered most of the losses experienced during the 2020 downturn, though lower prices and economic uncertainty have resulted in fresh layoffs in 2025.
Early indicators suggest that overall energy job growth is likely to moderate to 1.3 per cent this year amid tighter labour markets and geopolitical tensions.
However, the report warns that the sector’s growth engine is at risk.
More than half of the companies, unions and training institutions surveyed reported severe shortages of skilled labour, particularly in technical fields such as electricians, pipefitters, line workers, plant operators and nuclear engineers.
These roles have added 2.5 million jobs since 2019 and now make up over half of the entire energy workforce.
“The world’s ability to build the energy infrastructure it needs depends on having enough skilled workers in place.
Governments, industry and training institutions must come together to close the labour and skills gap. Left unaddressed, these shortages could slow progress, raise costs and weaken energy security,” Birol said.
Ageing workforces are compounding the skills crunch.
In advanced economies, 2.4 energy workers are nearing retirement for every new entrant under 25, a demographic imbalance particularly acute in nuclear and grid professions.
Without action, the supply of new qualified workers will fall increasingly short of demand.
The IEA estimates that preventing the skills gap from widening by 2030 would require a 40 per cent rise in new entrants, equivalent to an additional $2.6 billion (Sh335.8 billion) a year in training investments.
The agency thus calls for stronger policy interventions to expand training pipelines and improve access to energy-sector skills programmes.
Cost barriers, low awareness and foregone wages remain major reasons why potential trainees do not pursue energy qualifications.
It highlights targeted financial incentives, expanded apprenticeships, improved curriculum design with industry partners and modernised training facilities as key levers.
It further emphasises the need for reskilling programmes to help workers in declining fossil fuel segments transition into fast-growing areas of the energy economy.
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