Powering the Energy Workforce Amidst Labor Shortage
The energy and resources workforce is under severe pressure.
Workers in traditional roles are retiring, especially in traditional roles, while not enough young workers are replacing them. With the shift toward renewables and sustainable practices, skills gaps are quickly widening and local competition for talent is stiff. Upskilling and retraining efforts are crucial to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving industry, which is gaining traction in AI and automation technologies.
Risk Factors
2.32
Occupation Risk Score
Across engineering, geoscience, OSHA specialists, production workers, and plant operators, prime-age workers in all critical roles for the energy and resources industry are exiting these fields faster than they are entering. Geoscientists, crucial for resource extraction, are seeing a net loss of 46% prime-age workers. Occupational health and safety specialists, who are among the highest priority roles for oil, gas, and renewable energies as well as refining, processing, mining, and maintaining facilities, are seeing a net loss of 21% of prime-age workers—which puts the entire industry in a precarious position for business continuity.
3.02
Market Risk Score
Energy is largely confined to local activities, and is thus reliant on regional availability of workers. The most prevalent areas where energy operations occur are Houston, Tex., Midland, Tex., Oklahoma City, Okla., Denver, Colo., and Phoenix, Ariz.—all areas that are experiencing a 16% loss of prime-age workers. Obtaining and sustaining a workforce in science and technology roles will remain difficult in these competitive areas; sourcing available workers for on-site work, which occurs in rural areas, will continue to be even more challenging as prime-age labor wells dry even more rapidly.
4.00
Industry Risk Score
For over a decade, the oil and gas industry has struggled to attract young workers due to perceptions of market instability, paired with the demanding physical nature of extraction, refining, and maintenance. Presently, young workers are interested in green energy, but are lacking the skills to fill these roles. To fill talent shortages, foreign-born workers have contributed significantly to workforce growth in this sector, though immigration as a sustainable strategy for the years forward remains uncertain. Additionally, operations can only occur where the resources are, so unless extraction is available abroad, energy companies must focus on obtaining and sustaining the local workforce.
2.16
AI Skills Gap Score
The aggregate score for energy AI and automation skills gaps reflects the diverse roles that comprise energy companies’ ability to operate and innovate. While manual labor roles, such as roustabouts, pump operators, and material movers have very few AI and automation skills, and little need for them, civil engineering technologists, machinists, maintenance and repair workers, and meter readers have slightly more exposure. Upskilling them in these areas can assist labor shortages with innovative instruments. Chemical engineers, petroleum engineers, environmental scientists, and industrial production managers have the highest exposure to AI skills in this industry.
Energy & Resources Organizations in the Fortune 1000
In the Workforce Risk Outlook, Lightcast found little correlation between workforce risk exposure and their Fortune 1000 ranking. C-suite leaders must align their workforce strategies with their quadrant position, as opposed to assuming their revenue makes them immune.
High Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant face significant risk of being disrupted in their industry, but also have the financial resources to reduce their risk if they are proactive. These organizations should invest in workforce transformation initiatives, build partnerships with technical schools, and accelerate automation in field operations to reduce reliance on hard-to-fill roles.
High Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations within the riskiest quadrant are lower on the competitive ladder and have less resources to address their incoming risk. These organizations must focus on workforce retention through targeted upskilling, improve supply chain resilience, and explore collaborations with larger industry players for technology and resource-sharing.
Lower Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant may not face immediate workforce shortages, but should remain proactive to maintain and reduce their exposure to risk. Investing in AI-driven asset management, expanding renewable energy expertise, and implementing flexible work structures can help secure a stable workforce for the future.
Lower Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant, if they are proactive, have a chance to be the disruptors. Specifically, they can disrupt industry competitors in the High Risk/High Scale quadrant. These organizations should focus on developing skills that bolster sustainability and attracting younger talent through innovation-driven workplace cultures to compete against larger companies.
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Solving Energy & Resources Workforce Management
Talent Analyst
Strategies to Reach a Younger Workforce
Energy organizations need to be highly aware of retirements to prioritize succession planning and avoid skills gap risks. They also need to understand both existing and emerging skills, especially in renewable and advanced tech roles, to align upskilling critical roles. Mapping local talent pool availability with specific skills and certifications help target regions and neighboring sectors with stronger talent supplies and skills transferability. To attract young and industry-adjacent talent, organizations also need to benchmark competitive compensation across local and national markets.
How an Oil and Gas Enterprise is Passing the Baton
A multinational energy corporation is revitalizing its workforce by aligning skills with future industry demands as it pursues its renewable energy strategy. After evaluating retirements and risk of skills loss, it used Talent Analyst to benchmark skills against competitors, assess internal skills gaps, and align strategies with job trends across global locations, particularly in tech-driven roles. With a data-driven talent intelligence plan, it targets top job postings by occupation and companies and continuously identifies new, core, and declining skills, especially in core engineering roles.
Talent Transform
How to Grow the Energy Workforce of the Future
A skills-based strategy is essential to retain talent and prepare a future-ready workforce. Identifying critical roles and ensuring up-to-date job profiles—especially those positioned for renewable energy and advanced tech—enables targeted recruitment and training. Defined career paths and advancement opportunities improve engagement and retention—traditional roles can adopt disruptive skills, bridging gaps without needing external hires. Focusing on core competencies also unlocks workforce inclusivity, offering accessible entry points for new, adjacent, or non-traditional backgrounds.
Deepening Skills Succession, in Action
The same oil and gas enterprise has also focused on deepening its succession and retention by using Talent Transform to enact a skills-based strategy. By integrating Lightcast’s skills taxonomy with Workday, it has gained understanding of internal skills demand, mapped to external talent insights, and has a comprehensive view of job and worker profiles, competencies, attrition risk, and demand locations. This outside-in view has achieved a scalable, skills-first approach that has resulted in efficient strategic execution in placing the right people with the right skills in the right places.
