The gas industry has never been a source of many permanent jobs, especially when compared to clean energy and energy efficiency industries. But now, because the industry is in deep debt, they’re cutting costs by eliminating jobs and replacing people with machines. Automation means that experienced workers from elsewhere will fill the remaining specialized jobs. Locals will get temporary jobs such as truck drivers and security guards. Ironically, NB businesses already have many such job openings that they can’t fill.
Read More
- Oil Industry Plans to Keep Workers Safe—by Firing Them and Having Robots Do Their Jobs (19 Jul 2018, Desmog)
- Thousands of energy jobs lost to Alberta downturn are gone for good, economist says (Mar 7, 2018, CBC)
- Why Alberta’s economic ‘recovery’ feels so different this time (10 Jan 2018, CBC)
- Union outcry as automation eats up 400 oilsands jobs – and it’s just the beginning – (Global News Feb 2018)
- Oil bust on par with telecom crash of dot-com era – (Houston Chronicle, Sept 2016)
- Rise of the Machines: Fracking Execs Plan Profits by Using Automation to Shrink Workforce – (Desmog June 2018)
- Oil bust on par with telecom crash of dot-com era – (Houston Chronicle, Sept 2016)
The Alternatives:
- Oil and gas workers transitioning to clean energy (Iron and Earth, oil workers transitioning)
- Amid fading oil boom, Canada’s roughnecks seek green energy jobs– (Reuters, Aug 2017)
- One Million Climate Jobs: A Plan for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy (2017)
- Clean Energy Canada Report (34 job years for every $1 million invested) (2018)
- Research and modeling by the Acadia Centre: energy efficiency initiatives in NB could create between 22-51 job-years/$1Million of program spending. (2014)
- Vermont: 29% growth in clean energy industry since 2003; 12,000 full time jobs; 19,000 clean energy workers (1:16 Vermonters in CE jobs).