Solar accounted for 40% of all job additions in the power sector worldwide in 2024, with almost three-quarters in China. Around 3.5 million workers were employed in the manufacturing of system equipment, such as inverters, solar panels, generators, and batteries, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Employment 2025.

In 2024, global energy employment grew at a faster pace than the broader economy for the third year in a row. Jobs in the energy sector increased by 2.2% YoY, totaling 76 million.

Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) led the growth in the power sector in 2024. Employment growth was strongest in EMDEs, led by India (5.8%), Indonesia (4.8%), and the Middle East (3.5%), compared with 2.2% in China and just 0.4% in advanced economies.

Within power generation, specifically excluding jobs in the grid sector, three-quarters of the workforce is employed in low-emissions technologies, led by solar with 5 million workers and wind at 1.7 million.

The power sector, including generation and grids (excluding fuel supply), employed 22.6 million workers in 2024. Around 65% of the jobs, or 14.2 million, were in power generation, while 8.5 million workers were employed in grids, including transmission, distribution, and storage.

China remained the dominant employer in the solar sector, accounting for 60% of the global workforce, and about 42% of these jobs were tied to domestic construction activities.

Europe, India, and other Asia-Pacific countries each accounted for around 10% of the total number of solar job additions.

Distributed solar, such as rooftop and other small-scale installations, accounts for two-thirds of all solar employment, despite representing only 43% of installed capacity.

Jobs in wholesale and transport make up about 25% of employment in distributed solar, compared to just 13% in utility-scale solar.

Around two-thirds of the solar workforce is employed in developing and installing new capacity.

About 21% of solar workers were engaged in manufacturing polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules, and inverters, while 46% worked on installing solar projects in both individual homes and utility-scale solar farms.

Earlier this year, the Clean Jobs American by E2 said over 3.5 million Americans were employed in clean energy occupations across renewable energy generation, battery and storage, energy efficiency, biofuels, grid modernization, and clean vehicle industries at the end of 2024.

Mercom had reported that a shortage of skilled workers was hampering India’s ambitious bid to lead the global renewable energy transition. Industry leaders say this talent gap is driving up costs, delaying projects, and reducing productivity.

Wind

Employment in wind power generation rose to over 1.7 million in 2024, a 3% rise from 2023, driven mainly by growth in onshore wind.

Nearly three-quarters of job additions came from the onshore segment. A quarter of wind power workers were involved in manufacturing wind turbine components such as blades and towers, while over a third were engaged in constructing onshore and offshore wind farms.

The remaining 40% of workers were engaged in operations, maintenance, and support roles across sectors, including turbine technicians (professional services), grid management (utilities), parts distributors (wholesale), and heavy-haul drivers (transport).

Global wind employment is projected to continue increasing in 2025, but considerable uncertainty remains across several markets. In the U.S., the outlook is clouded by an executive order pausing federal wind leasing and permitting.

Pumped Storage Projects

The report highlighted that, due to ongoing geopolitical changes and rising curtailment of variable renewable energy, the demand for flexible generation and electricity storage has increased, leading to the rapid expansion of pumped-storage hydropower in many countries.

In Europe, investment in hydropower rose by 13% over 2023 levels, backed by the strong business case for pumped storage, which contributed to job growth in the region.

Similarly, China’s Three Gorges is scaling up pumped storage as a national infrastructure priority.

Electric Vehicles

Job creation from electric vehicle manufacturing rose by nearly 800,000 from last year.

Global EV manufacturing employment rose to 3.1 million in 2024, a 34% YoY jump.

In China, almost 40% of all jobs in vehicle manufacturing were tied to electric vehicles and batteries.

Low-Emission Hydrogen

The global low-emission hydrogen supply workforce reached 40,000 in 2024, up from 35,000 last year.

While most of the low-mission hydrogen supply was produced by steam-methane reforming with carbon capture, utilization, and storage, electrolytic hydrogen already accounts for almost 90% of the sector’s workers.

The majority of additional low-emission hydrogen supply jobs were created by the construction of new facilities, as the global electrolyzer installed capacity has almost reached 2 GW.

Equipment manufacturing and research, development, and demonstration make up more than two-thirds of low-emission hydrogen employment.

Currently, half of the sector’s global manufacturing workforce is in China, and around 60% of the world’s electrolyzer supply is produced there.