Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions (2024) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Pages 155-192
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 155... ...
4 Workforce Needs, Opportunities, and Support ABSTRACT Investments in clean technologies and infrastructure have the potential to not only address the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also create and support millions of jobs in the rapidly growing clean energy economy and stimulate economic growth. The transition to net zero will have uneven impacts across sectors, demographics, and geographies of the U.S.
|
From page 156... ...
timing of employment growth will be impacted by many factors such as domestic content, worker productivity increases, and siting decisions (Mayfield et al.
|
From page 157... ...
• To provide workers and communities accurate information about how clean energy transitions could impact them and access to viable economic transition strategies; • To directly address during transition planning risks to "highly vulnerable" 2 locations where 50F the economic transition to carbon neutrality will exacerbate existing economic disadvantages and health disparities; • To hold companies accountable for ensuring that fossil fuel energy infrastructures are properly decommissioned and that their long-term environmental impacts are remediated to prevent the creation of persistent environmental contamination and associated health impacts for local populations; and • To develop strategies to ensure that local, Tribal, and state governments are able to replace lost revenue from plant, mine, and other industrial facility closures. The first report included three overarching recommendations to Congress to understand and address impacts of transition on labor and workforce: establish a 2-year federal National Transition Task Force to assess the vulnerability of labor sectors and communities to the transition; establish a White House–level Office of Equitable Energy Transitions that would establish criteria for funding, sponsor research, and report on equity and transition impacts indicators; and establish an independent National Transition Corporation to ensure coordination and funding to mitigate job losses, deploy and decommission infrastructure, and provide equitable access to economic opportunities and wealth, and to create public energy equity indicators.
|
From page 158... ...
Many other recommendations of the first report would have implications for the workforce even if the recommendations themselves do not contain specific workforce components. Examples include actions to expand clean energy, weatherize homes, and revitalize U.S.
|
From page 159... ...
• Several other DOE programs had funding authorized through IIJA for various decarbonization efforts that can be used for workforce development efforts and/or are available to higher education institutions, including Battery Materials Processing Grants, Battery Manufacturing and Recycling Grants, the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and 2nd Life Apps Program. • Some DOE programs require a workforce development plan as part of the application for the program, including Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs.
|
From page 160... ...
wide variety of fields necessary for domestic semiconductor production, including materials science, electrical engineering, software development, and factory machine operation (Shivakumar et al.
|
From page 161... ...
Buildings Energy-Efficient Tax Deduction (179D) requires prevailing wage and apprenticeship utilization, and the New Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit (45L)
|
From page 162... ...
support workers whose employment is impacted by trade (P.L.
|
From page 163... ...
non-fossil sector, wages are expected to increase to reflect these needs. Wages can help incentivize the supply of workers, but these adjustments can be sluggish.
|
From page 164... ...
Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which passed the House in the 117th Congress and has since been reintroduced in the 118th, includes several provisions to make it easy for workers to join unions.
|
From page 165... ...
and development of critical minerals on Federal lands; and (4) facilitate sustained interaction with critical mineral stakeholders and the general public.
|
From page 166... ...
For many manufacturing companies that remain in the United States, workforce challenges are negatively impacting operations and growth. In the National Association of Manufacturers 2021 Manufacturers' Outlook Survey, nearly 45 percent of respondents reported having to turn down business opportunities owing to insufficient staff (NAM 2021)
|
From page 167... ...
of approximately 3 million direct jobs during the first decade, and approximately 4–8 million direct jobs during the 2040s. This study does not include energy efficiency or vehicles jobs.
|
From page 168... ...
FIGURE 4-1 Spatial distribution of employment: annual employment in energy jobs for the least constrained net-zero scenario modeled by Mayfield et al.
|
From page 169... ...
Figures 4-1 and 4-2 depict results from Mayfield et al.
|
From page 170... ...
scenario in which renewable deployment is constrained beneath the maximum historic rate, for example because of public pressure on deployment, both nuclear deployment and employment would expand by 10×. In the least constrained scenario, shown in Figure 4-2, operations and slow decommissioning provide steady employment from 2020 to 2040.
|
From page 171... ...
Finding 4-3: The employment impacts of the transition to a net-zero economy will be uneven geographically, temporally, and sectorally. There will not be a 1:1 replacement of lost fossil energy jobs with new clean energy jobs.
|
From page 172... ...
upstream activities) jobs comprise a declining portion of jobs over time.
|
From page 173... ...
At the same time, the existing federal and state policies designed to mitigate these costs, such as unemployment insurance, are insufficient to compensate for these foregone earnings and other job-related benefits. The federal-state unemployment insurance (UI)
|
From page 174... ...
localized recessions: displaced workers spent less on restaurants, entertainment, home renovations, childcare, and other services, pushing the economy into a downward spiral of further job losses and spending cuts. Currently, the United States has targeted transition assistance programs to help with the disruptive costs of job displacement for some affected workers.
|
From page 175... ...
Security trust fund that need to be incorporated into calculations of the budgetary effect of UI extensions (von Wachter 2011)
|
From page 176... ...
decline to workers whose reemployment wages are lower than their predisplacement wages. Proponents argue that wage insurance not only financially compensates workers facing wage reductions after job displacement, but also incentivizes job search, shortens unemployment durations, and supports workers for whom job training may be less effective (Kletzer and Litan 2001)
|
From page 177... ...
paid during the time it takes to train, and when they do receive stipends, they are unlikely to cover the cost of living. Drop-out rates can also be high (Heckman et al.
|
From page 178... ...
Such a system of work-sharing has already been instituted in 17 states. 8 However, the current 56F system may have to be extended and publicized to have a visible impact on forecasted job destruction in fossil communities and to have a substantial impact on employment (von Wachter 2021)
|
From page 179... ...
additional contingencies, and a control group that was not offered a voucher (but retained access to public housing)
|
From page 180... ...
While some place-based policies such as business tax incentives can be useful in stimulating new capital deployment within a region (e.g., new or expanding businesses) , there are also policies that may be helpful in raising the productivity of incumbent businesses.
|
From page 181... ...
auction rounds, Germany has provided strong incentives for retirement. Box 4-2 expands on the lessons policymakers can take away from Germany's experience with coal phaseout.
|
From page 182... ...
the local labor markets that were exposed to these shocks. Younger and more educated workers were most likely to migrate away from these regions, but for the older and less-educated workers left behind, localized distress has persisted for decades beyond the actual displacement events (Hanson 2023)
|
From page 183... ...
produce low- or no-emissions goods and services; data on the occupations and wages of jobs related to net-zero-relevant technologies and practices; and career information publications related to emissions reductions, decarbonization, and climate change; b) Conducting analyses to inform where and when job gains and losses may occur related to decarbonization (e.g., $ value of different types of jobs in fossil and non fossil industries, job losses)
|
From page 184... ...
REFERENCES Acemoglu, D., D Autor, D
|
From page 185... ...
Bianchi, N., and M Giorcelli.
|
From page 186... ...
Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., D Brooks, and M
|
From page 187... ...
BW Research Partnership. https://e2.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/E2-ASE-AABE-EEFA BOSS-Diversity-Report-2021.pdf.
|
From page 188... ...
economic-opportunity-for-more-americans/a-policy-agenda-to-develop-human-capital-for-the modern-economy/. Gould, E., and W
|
From page 189... ...
Iacovone, L., W Maloney, and D
|
From page 190... ...
Möller, J
|
From page 191... ...
Scott, R.E., V Wilson, J
|
From page 192... ...
U.S. Department of the Treasury.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.