Dive Brief:
- Employment is declining in every sector of the electric power generation industry except renewable energy generators, according to statistics kept by the federal government.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the sector lost more than 5,800 jobs overall from 2011 through June, but there was a gain of almost 1,800 jobs in the non-hyrdro renewable electricity segment.
- The decline coincides with a period of declining year-to-year electricity sales, the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes.
Dive Insight:
The labor changes probably come as little surprise to anyone who's been watching the generation industry over the past few years. The solar segment alone had a jump of more than 200%, according to EIA calculations, with jobs in wind generation rising by 16%, biomass jobs rising 20% and geothermal jobs up 9%.
Meanwhile, more than 4,900 jobs have been lost in the nuclear power generation sector since 2011 and 1,750 fossil fuel power generation jobs have been lost in that time, according to BLS.
