Is there anybody there?

It's not just wind and solar. Labour shortages are spreading across key industries.

Last week, I wrote an article for Oilprice about a labour shortage that is threatening the energy transition. It was based on several reports sounding the alarm about the industry that is key to the transition: dirty, earth-plundering mining.

There were nowhere near enough mining engineers, project managers and even truck drivers to produce all the raw materials that the transition needs, the reports said, and the only reason I put “even” in front of truck drivers is the assumption that there is a greater pool of workers for jobs that don’t require qualifications that take 4+ years to acquire.

This becomes additionally problematic when fewer and fewer high school graduates want to spend 4+ years acquiring those particular qualifications that the mining industry needs. It’s as funny as it is tragic because one big reason those graduates don’t want to acquire the qualifications needed for the transition is the work of pro-transition activists.

Many of you already knew that but it’s such a wonderful irony it’s worth repeating, just as it is worth noting actions such as the ban — yes, ban — by four UK universities on mining companies to take part in career fairs and direct recruitment on campus, as detailed in this WSJ report.

There are, in other words, not enough mining engineers and geologists to enable the expansion of mining output that is, you could say, existentially important for the energy transition, and the most devout advocates of that transition are working actively to aggravate the shortage problem.

But the problem is much bigger. Because shortages of qualified and skilled workers for the transition are everywhere.