The Workforce Readiness Index: A Local and Regional Assessment Tool for Energy Sector Preparedness

Technical Report · Tue Sep 23 00:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2703243· OSTI ID:2703243

McDowell, Brinn ^[1]; Liu, Haijing ^[1]; Stefek, Jeremy ^[1]; Pons, Bailey ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

Building up a workforce that is properly trained and adequately sized is essential to ensuring that the deployment of energy generation sources in the United States meets future energy demand. Workforce development to support supply chain or large infrastructure investments typically occurs at a local level. However, there is a critical gap in understanding where and to what extent regional workforces are equipped to meet the needs of an energy industry. The Workforce Readiness Index ("the index") was developed to assess and compare energy sector workforce readiness across the United States at the county level to provide granular information to various stakeholders such as industry members, state decision makers, and training program developers. Workforce readiness is defined as the ability to recruit from the general labor market, transition workers with comparable skill sets, and train a workforce using scalable or existing training programs near a specific location. Therefore, the index evaluates readiness levels based on the likelihood that a county possesses the workforce development infrastructure needed to support the occupations required by an energy-related industry or sector. Furthermore, the index offers a standardized yet flexible approach that captures regional variations and highlights local strengths and challenges.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 2703243
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--5000-95549
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
local analysis
workforce analysis
workforce development
workforce readiness