A new report by the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) predicts a significant increase in jobs in the UK offshore wind sector by 2030 – with forecast jobs exceeding 100,000 for the first time.
With this dramatic surge of workers required over the next seven years to manage the expected offshore wind project pipeline, the industry needs to be able to attract and retain an average of 10,000 people per year, according to the report.
The report features recommendations for achieving this and calls for an industry workforce strategy to be established, identifying that a new approach to recruitment and retention is vital to support the huge upcoming pipeline of work.
The industry is set to employ of 104,401 people by 2030 to meet current targets – an increase of 6,936 since last year’s forecast.
The UK’s existing offshore wind workforce has increased to over 32,000 – up 4% compared to the end of 2021.
This includes over 17,000 direct jobs and nearly 15,000 indirect jobs.
In the short-to-medium term, a rapid growth in jobs is needed as several offshore wind farms progress to the construction phase – 88,509 jobs are forecast to be required by 2026, which is over 56,000 more than today’s workforce.
The Government has set the industry a target of reaching 50GW of capacity of 2030, including 5GW of floating wind – up from 13.66GW today.
To ensure there is a skilled workforce available to support the sector’s expansion, the report calls for a strategy to tackle skills shortages in key areas such as planning and consenting, high voltage electrical technicians, engineers, turbine technicians, and those with a range of digital skills.
The report also calls for STEM engagement with young people on future career options to ensure the continuation of a skilled workforce for the next generation.
The industry has committed to increasing the proportion of women working in offshore wind.
OWIC said this has grown by 4.6% since 2019 to 20.6% of the workforce, as the industry moves towards a target of 33% agreed with the Government in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal.
The report notes that whilst this is positive, there remains much work to be done to ensure the sector reaches a better gender balance in the future.
The report breaks down employment across 11 regions of the UK, with Wales coming out on top in terms of gender balance, currently employing the highest percentage of women at 45.9%.
There was also progress on ensuring that the industry becomes more diverse in terms of ethnicity, according to the report, with 7% of the offshore wind workforce are from non-white backgrounds, compared to 3.8% in 2021.
OWIC has committed to meet the target of 9% of workers from ethnic minority backgrounds in 2030, and it is aiming for a more ambitious stretch target of 12% if possible.
The report highlights the requirement for employers across industry to better measure, act on and communicate diversity data.
It also found that the industry has surpassed the Sector Deal target of 2.5% of the workforce being apprentices, as this proportion has now reached 2.6%, an increase of 0.6% on last year’s results.
The majority of current offshore jobs are based in Scotland and the Northeast, but the pipeline for fixed offshore wind in the Irish Sea and floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea region is set to be transformational for Wales and the Southwest, the report concludes.
The greatest proportion of higher level skills are found in Wales the southwest and London, it found.
Consenting and management jobs at degree level or above make up the largest concentration of offshore wind employment in Wales in 2023, reflecting the current planning phase of the Celtic Sea leasing round.
Jane Cooper, director of offshore Wwind at RenewableUK, said: “Our report highlights the central role that offshore wind is playing in the UK as a powerhouse of industrial and economic growth, already supporting tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs around the country.
“However, to ensure we can meet the demands of a net zero society, it’s essential for us to work right across our own industry, across adjacent industries with transferrable skills, and with the next generation, to make offshore wind the most attractive career choice for people from the widest range of backgrounds and with a whole variety of different skill sets.”