The green transition might have a more literal meaning for some oil and gas workers. New data shows green jobs may be out of their state.
It’s being called the “green transition” — the global shift to adopt more environmentally friendly ways of working, getting around, and living on the whole. From an employment perspective, the green transition is expected to mean job losses for people who already work in the oil and gas industry.
It makes sense, with fossil fuel factories and similar industries that can harm the environment being phased out of business. This has already been accounted for in most models, though. It’s expected that the number of new green jobs created will more than make up for the losses in oil and gas.
A new study is suggesting that some of those workers may have to consider moving if they want to take advantage of those new job opportunities, though.
Location, Location, Location
Scientific journal Nature Communications recently conducted a study looking into the push-and-pull of job losses in oil & gas versus job gains in the green sector. It confirmed that, yes, there will likely be far more new green jobs available in the USA than there are people who lost jobs in the oil and gas sector.
But, it raised a new concern that most have yet to take into consideration: location.
“The green energy revolution may displace 1.7 million fossil fuel workers in the US, but a just transition to emerging green industry jobs offers possibilities for re-employing these workers,” Nature Communications said in a report.
“We find that these workers could leverage their mobility to other industries and have similar skills to green occupations. However, today’s fossil fuel extraction workers are not co-located with current sources of green energy production. Further, after accounting for federal employment projections, fossil fuel extraction workers are mostly not located in the regions where green employment will grow despite attaining the appropriate skillsets.”
Where to Find Green Jobs?
According to the data from Nature Communications, most oil and gas workers are in states that have historically had success with the fossil fuel industry. These states include Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and parts of Western Pennsylvania.
In contrast, most green job growth is expected to come from other states. According to data from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), for instance, the states that are seeing a significant number of green jobs right now are:
- Michigan
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Arizona
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
These conclusions are just based on early projections for the time being. It could well be the case that more green jobs emerge in states historically dominated by oil and gas than experts believe. So, it may not be time for fossil fuel workers to start packing their bags just yet.
But, as the green transition continues across the globe, they may want to keep the consideration in mind that they may have to look to another state for their perfect dream job match.