Power generation employment leveling after long downtrend
January 29, 2011
Employment in the electric power generation segment of the electric power industry has fallen 33% since 1990, according to January 2011 data from the Current Employment Statistics Survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data provides employment levels from January 1990 through November 2010.
Electric power generation-related employment has undergone a major shift in the past two decades as shown in Chart 1. The long-term trend has been down, although in recent years employment appears to have stablized. Nevertheless, Chart 2 graphs the year-over-year percentage change in power generation employment since 1990. The figures are quite astounding for the industry. Each bar below the zero line represents a decline in generation-related employment from the previous year.
Over the past 20 years, employment has declined in 18 of those years when compared to the previous year. Of the 18 years of decline, 17 were in a row. Employment dropped every year from 1991 through 2007. The only increase was in 2008-2009, with 1996 and 2003 having declines of 4.5 and 6.3 percent, respectively. The largest declines came in the early to middle part of each decade. Data through November shows a return to year-over-year declines in 2010.
Chart 3 shows the monthly change in industry employment over the past 5 years. Overall, employment has stablized during this timeframe. However, the question remains, is the downtrend over or will the first half of this decade produce the same workforce reductions as the past two decades? We will have to wait to find out. In a follow up post, we will examine the changes in employment in the transmission and distribution segments of the industry.