Energy job growth was fuelled by record levels of investment across a wide range of energy sources in the wake of the global energy crisis. Job growth in clean energy sectors increased by 1.5 million in 2023, bringing total energy employment to 34.8 million jobs, according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Employment 2024 report.

Clean power jobs accounted for 40% of all energy job growth in 2023.

Source: IEA

Clean energy job growth represents over 10% of economy-wide job growth in China and 4-6% in advanced economies.

The world now spends almost $2 on clean energy for every $1 invested in fossil fuels. The energy crisis also resulted in a 5% increase in clean energy jobs.

Solar PV job growth added over 500,000 workers to reach 4.5 million in 2023. Other clean power generation technologies contributed 270,000 jobs, while power grids and storage employment increased by 230,000 to 8 million in 2023.

Another 190,000 jobs were added to expand new electrical lines and equipment and to digitalize power grids.

The strong growth in the global electric vehicle (EV) market continued, with EV manufacturing employment nearly tripling from 2019 to 2023. Two-thirds of global EV jobs were located in China, with the remainder primarily concentrated in the European Union, the U.S., and the rest of the Asia Pacific region.

China dominated energy employment growth in 2023, with an increase of over 800,000 jobs to 20.6 million. The country accounted for the largest share of global manufacturing employment in several critical clean energy technologies, including EVs (68%), batteries (93%), solar PV (84%) and wind turbines (54%).

Only 7% of global manufacturing jobs in EVs, batteries, heat pumps, solar PV, and wind are in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) other than China.

India

India’s clean energy investment rose approximately 35% from 2016-2021, and employment rose by % in 2023.

Solar PV and hydropower accounted for the largest share of this increase, adding over 250,000 jobs together since 2019. Jobs connected to developing and installing new power generation projects represented 60% of the labor force, up from 56% in 2019. Employment in the power grid segment, which totaled 1.6 million workers in 2023, grew by 6% from 2019 to 2023.

Source: IEA

In all, 1.3 million people were employed in road vehicles and battery manufacturing. However, EVs and EV batteries represented less than 1% of total energy jobs in 2023.

India’s vehicle electrification policies will also shift the composition of the vehicle workforce by 2030. Around 320,000 workers will be connected to the manufacture of EVs and their batteries, up from roughly 30,000 workers today.

Employment in clean power generation totaled over 930,000 workers in 2023, with hydropower and solar PV representing the largest portion of that workforce and the greatest growth in recent years.

Hydropower witnessed a sharp 19% YoY growth in its workforce in 2023, driven by the addition of over 25,000 jobs connected to major hydropower projects (including pumped storage) currently under development.

Employment in the installation and construction of clean energy projects grew by 10% YoY in 2023 and represents around 45% of the total jobs in clean power generation in India.

Total energy employment reached over 8.5 million in 2023, around 1.5% of the country’s workforce, up by 3% year-on-year over the last five years. Clean energy investment has seen the largest uptick, rising 35% from the 2016-2021 average.

The power sector employed 3 million workers, with jobs split roughly evenly between electricity generation and grids. The workforce involved in developing and operating power generation has grown the fastest in recent years, increasing by more than 20% since 2019, alongside an 18% rise in India’s power generation capacity over that period. Solar PV and hydropower accounted for the largest share of this increase, together adding over 25,000 jobs since 2019.

The report also stated that India needs to expand other manufacturing segments in light of the domestic content requirement mandate for solar and EV products.

Source: IEA

Solar

Employment in the global solar PV  sector reached more than 4.5 million jobs in 2023, an increase of 13% YoY.

Employment in the sector is concentrated in the installation of new capacity, with manufacturing and construction accounting for two-thirds of total solar jobs.

Installing solar panels in individual homes and utility-scale solar farms is the largest contributor to employment in the sector, representing nearly half of all solar jobs worldwide.

The solar manufacturing segment represented nearly 20% of solar employment, and 70% of PV jobs are associated with distributed solar (rooftop and other small-scale installations).

Distributed solar installations totaled over 3.1 million jobs, a 13% increase from 2022.

Wind

Global employment in wind power reached nearly 1.7 million in 2023, up 8% YoY. Global wind capacity additions rose by 50% to 116 GW in 2023, with onshore wind projects accounting for over 90% of these additions.

China leads onshore and offshore employment with around 50% of total wind power jobs worldwide, followed by Europe with 20%, other Asia Pacific countries with 14%, and North America with roughly 10%.

Onshore projects accounted for approximately three-quarters of all wind jobs and grew 4% YoY.

Most workers are in the manufacturing and construction sectors, accounting for 28% and 36%, respectively.

An estimated 27% is in the professionals and utilities sector, with workers involved in project design, planning, and maintenance and in integrating wind-generated power into the electrical grid. A smaller 10% share lies in logistics.

Growth in wind employment in 2023 masks headwinds faced by many major wind developers and original equipment manufacturers, especially in the offshore wind industry. As a result, growth in manufacturing jobs slowed down in Europe compared to previous years and flatlined in the U.S. Still, China’s wind energy jobs grew by more than 56,000 last year, representing almost half of the global growth in wind employment.

Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDE)

Clean energy employment grew 10% in EMDEs other than China since 2019, compared to 30% in China and 15% globally.

Lower clean energy investment and deployment is the primary reason for slower clean energy employment growth in EMDEs.

Employment in clean energy manufacturing grew by less than 15% in EMDEs other than China. However, since 2019, employment in clean energy manufacturing has grown by over 35% in countries like India and Indonesia.

Battery storage jobs increased by 20% YoY since 2022. Declining costs helped battery storage investment double in 2023 to USD 40 billion.

Electric Vehicles

Employment in vehicle manufacturing and EV batteries reached 13.4 million in 2023. EVs accounted for a rising share at 1.3 million and EV batteries at 1.4 million, with China representing more than 70% of these jobs.

Employment in EV manufacturing has been driven by immense sales growth in recent years, with purchases of electric cars being more than six times higher in 2023 than in 2018. Global EV jobs grew by 280,000 in 2023, representing a 28% increase on the previous year. China accounts for 73% of these additions, followed by advanced economies with 24%.

EMDEs other than China account for less than 2% of jobs in EV manufacturing.

China dominates EV battery manufacturing even more, surpassing 1 million jobs in 2023, or 78% of the global workforce. The EU and North American battery manufacturing regions are expected to reach 120,000 in 2024. However, these regions also rely on EV battery imports from China.

The countervailing gains in EV jobs have been much more unevenly distributed: only China saw a net increase in vehicle manufacturing employment since 2019, as its large EV job additions have more than compensated for its ICE vehicle job losses.

The fall in internal combustion engine jobs would be compensated by rises in EV and battery manufacturing employment to 5.4 million and 5 million, respectively.

Utilization of AI

The application of artificial intelligence algorithms to detect potential repairs or optimizations created up to 16,000 jobs, including significant tasks like the robotic maintenance of wind turbine generators and internal blade inspections.

Forecast

As per the World Energy Outlook 2024: the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS), meeting clean energy employment demand implies maintaining a 4% annualized growth rate, roughly the same achieved over the last four years.

In the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, nearly half of the 30 million new clean energy jobs emerging between 2023 and 2030 will be job transitions from the power sector, accounting for 14 million jobs.

A report by the International Renewable Energy Agency said the global renewable energy workforce grew to 16.2 million in 2023 from 13.7 million in 2022.

In another report in 2023, the IEA voiced concern over skills shortage in the clean energy sector, which had emerged as a key barrier to ramping up activity.