As we continue to explore the recent infrastructure bill and its impact on jobs, the $7.5 billion allocated for electric vehicle charging stations caught our attention. According to President Biden, that money is intended to help install 500,000 new charging stations across the country, in an effort to meet his goal of half of all new cars on the road being electric by 2030. Half a million charging stations are a significant upgrade from the current total, which is roughly 43,000 public charging stations.
According to Reuters, there are nearly 100 EV charging companies in North America alone, so the question of which will be doing the installations is anybody’s guess. But we thought of this as an opportunity to examine the job market for some of the employees who will likely be designing and installing these stations, namely electrical engineers and electricians.
Gray’s job postings data for Electricians and Electrical Engineers reveals the following:
Job postings linked to the CIP code for Electrical/Electronics Engineering are at a two-year high, with October seeing more than 70,000 postings alone.
Job Postings Associated with Electrical Engineering Programs
Job postings linked to Electrical/Communications Engineering Technology programs grew tremendously in 2021, averaging more than 27,700 each month and hitting a two-year high in August, with more than 33,000 postings.
Job Postings Associated with Electrical/Communications Engineering Technology Programs
Demand for graduates of Electrician programs is also high, with postings averaging more than 2,900 jobs each month in 2021.
Job Postings Associated with Electrician Programs
As the development and implementation of EV charging stations move forward, it’s reasonable to expect these numbers to rise. The question remains: is there a workforce here to follow through on the promise of a future where more electrical professionals and thereby graduates are required?
As the nation, and much of the world attempt to move away from fossil fuel reliance, and toward a more electric transportation future, keeping an eye on these metrics will prove valuable in assessing the demand for electrical professionals.
