Energy Indicators

September 13, 2024

The annual U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) from the Department of Energy shows that the solar industry had the highest number of jobs related to the production of electricity in 2023, and it outgrew all other power-generation categories. However, petroleum and natural gas remains the largest energy employer. Wind, petroleum fuels and natural gas fuels had the largest shares of total Texas energy jobs in 2023.

Solar ranks highest among generation employment

The solar industry employed 364,544 people in 2023 (Chart 1). That is the highest number of employees of any generation category-jobs related to the production of electricity. Out of all generation employment categories, the solar industry also had the highest percentage growth in the number of jobs from 2022 to 2023, 5.3 percent. Solar payroll growth was mainly driven by increases in utilities and construction industries.

Construction jobs accounted for approximately one-third (32.6 percent) of all electric-power generation jobs. Sixty percent of those construction jobs were from the solar industry. Net generation in 2023 for all utility-scale solar grew 12.6 percent, or 20.7 million megawatt hours, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Natural gas accounted for 14.3 percent of electric-power generation jobs, and coal generation accounted for 6.9 percent. Other generation amounted to 19.4 percent and includes hydropower, geothermal, bio, waste oils, and combined heat and power, such as generating units that use natural gas.

All low-carbon power-generation jobs grew from 2022 to 2023, including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and nuclear, adding a combined 28,079 jobs (18.6 percent), while natural gas generation added 4,713 new jobs (4.0 percent), and coal lost 871 jobs (1.4 percent).

Petroleum and natural gas still the largest employer in energy

There were a combined 796,400 jobs in petroleum and natural gas fuels in 2023 (Chart 2). Within these two categories, manufacturing and mining and extraction jobs totaled 55.4 percent of employment.

Total employment for the fuel sector-petroleum, natural gas, biofuels, coal and other fuels-grew 1.8 percent, or by 18,744 jobs, from 2022 to 2023. The petroleum fuels category added 6,481 jobs, and natural gas fuels increased by 5,283 jobs during that time.

Across both fuels and power sectors, all petroleum and natural gas combined accounted for 47 percent of all energy jobs in 2023, more than any other category. While jobs in wind, solar, nuclear and biofuels have been growing faster than fossil fuels, their share was 34 percent in 2023.

Energy is bigger in Texas

Texas has always dominated the energy space in terms of petroleum and natural gas. In 2023, Texas produced 43 percent of the nation's crude oil and 27 percent of its natural gas gross withdrawals and refined over one-third of all crude processed in the nation. It's no surprise that the state accounted for 34 percent of petroleum fuels employment and 38 percent of natural gas jobs in 2023.

Texas has also been a leader in wind-power development since 2005, and in 2023, it produced 26 percent of all U.S. wind-sourced electricity. Wind-generation jobs totaled 27,381 in Texas, 20.8 percent of all U.S. wind-energy jobs, according to the USEER (Chart 3). The number of wind jobs grew 12.5 percent compared with 2022.

Recent data show stability in oil and gas production jobs

While the big-picture energy employment report does a better job of capturing the breadth of energy-industry employment, the data are significantly lagged. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has more-timely measures of oil-and-gas-related industry jobs.

BLS monthly payroll data show U.S. oil and gas mining-related jobs decreased slightly in July 2024 to 600,600 from 458,800 in July (Chart 4). Out of all the jobs shown in Chart 4, 49 percent were in support activities for oil and gas operations, and 26 percent were in extraction. Total U.S. oil and gas jobs peaked this year in March at 464,500, although this year's data have been relatively flat compared with previous years.

Drilling activity dropped by two rigs from June to July-from 588 to 586. Since mid-2023, the rig count has fallen by 86 rigs (51 oil rigs and 35 gas rigs) due to lower prices and rising efficiency.

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