The Future of Energy and What It Means for Labor Markets

A long-term transition is underway in the consumption and production of energy from non-renewable “brown” energy sources based on fossil fuels, such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas, to renewable “green” sources, like bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind energy. This project will explore what direct and indirect impacts this transition may have on the labor market outcomes of employment and earnings in the local Canadian economies where this energy production is located, as well as the potential aggregate nation-wide impacts. In addition to focusing the terminology and accounting of brown and green jobs, this project will study employment spillovers between brown and green energy jobs, as well as regional concentrations, the quality of jobs, and job transitions between these sources. Related research questions include: What are the required skills and tasks of workers? How do the benefits of booms relate to the potential losses during subsequent busts? To what extent do the location of brown energy sources affect labor mobility and how might that change in areas where green energy sources are located?