{"id":5906,"date":"2026-08-24T15:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5906"},"modified":"2026-08-24T15:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:41:33","slug":"americas-energy-sector-will-need-500000-more-workers-by-2030-thanks-to-ai-but-unless-more-workers-retrain-humanoid-robots-will-have-to-step-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5906","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s energy sector will need 500,000 more workers by 2030 thanks to AI\u2014but unless more workers retrain, humanoid robots will have to step in"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. power and grid value chain will need around 500,000 additional workers by 2030, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs. And seeing as these roles often require three to four years of training, it creates a years-long skilling obstacle in training up a workforce to meet growing demands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Trump ripped Obama for flying long distances to play golf. Now he\u2019s flying to the Irish Open<\/a><\/p>\n

The energy apprenticeship pipeline only had 45,000 entrants in 2024, but really needs 65,000 professionals flowing in yearly to close the labor supply gap. And increasing demand for AI\u2014which necessitates an even greater pool of power\u2014could widen the gap even further.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cPower is a critical bottleneck\u2014but increasingly, the requisite labor presents a structural constraint of its own,\u201d the report explains. \u201cThe technical workforce that constructs, wires, cools, and secures this infrastructure is in acute demand, and training cannot happen at the pace capital is being committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

America\u2019s energy sector employed roughly 8.5 million workers as of 2024, who took home a median wage of $58,810 a year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. However, there are more lucrative career opportunities on the table, like traditional fuel production paying an average salary of $65,400, or power plant operators, who take home around $103,600 annually. Plus, energy jobs often don\u2019t require a costly college degree\u2014specialized training and on-the-job experience are king.<\/p>\n

But autonomous equipment and human-like robots might have to step in to help lighten the load if worker supply can\u2019t keep up.<\/p>\n

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Around 1.4 million humanoid robots will hit the market by 2035<\/h2>\n

The image of robotic arms, drones, and autonomous vehicles taking over factory floors may be jarring to many workers. But Goldman Sachs points out that an increased interest in physical AI like humanoid robots \u201cis centered on the need for labor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So long as people can\u2019t fulfill demands, tech is another tool to help bridge the productivity gap.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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America\u2019s manufacturing sector has a higher number of available jobs than available workers, the study finds, with more than one million materials-handling roles sitting unfilled. And techy companions may be one way to alleviate the shortage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Goldman\u2019s investment research projects that the market for humanoids will grow from 20,000 in 2025 to 1.4 million in 2035\u2014a 6,900% increase within the span of a decade. Some Chinese AI developers like Unitree and UBTECH are making headway with the robots, with widespread commercial deployment is expected between 2027 and 2029.<\/p>\n

Read more Jack Welch fired him from GE. He became a Fortune 500 CEO 3 years later<\/a><\/p>\n

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Other faceless autonomous equipment have already hit worksites with that strained labor-supply dynamic; take Deere\u2019s field systems and Caterpillar\u2019s mining platforms, as examples. Earlier this year Amazon also unveiled its autonomous mobile warehouse robot, Proteus. And EV giant Tesla has leveraged its own Optimus humanoid robots inside its manufacturing facilities, taking on early factory tasks and assembly line work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, human-like robots with blank faces and steel legs won\u2019t be marching onto assembly lines anytime soon. Building robots and factories takes years, and requires a load of financing. Private equity firms and banks don\u2019t have much historical financial data to confidently invest in these projects, and companies are still figuring out how to use humanoids at large scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Robot fleets are a few years away\u2014but China\u2019s energy sector is already deploying them<\/h2>\n

Humanoid robots have yet to take on a sizable amount of America\u2019s blue-collar work, but experts say that the tech is on the up-and-up. Zornitza Todorova, head of thematic FICC research at Barclays, predicts that today\u2019s humanoid market of around $3 billion will swell to $200 billion by 2035. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also believes in the potential of humanoid workers, but believes that the true unlock is still years away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think we are at the cusp of a transformation, we\u2019re just scratching the surface of what humanoid robots can do,\u201d Todorova told CNBC<\/em>earlier this year, \u201cAnd as the technology matures, as the models get better and faster at reacting to things in real time, I think we\u2019ll see a lot of applications in more services-oriented roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China already seems to be racing ahead of the U.S.; the country has deployed robots across several jobs in the energy sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In 2022, a robot completed the work of a maintenance professional by repairing power lines in the Wuhan province; and over at a power facility in Guangzhou, humanoid helpers have already taken over inspection duties usually completed by workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, China announced a $1 billion initiative through the State Grid Corporation of China to get around 8,500 AI-powered robots for national power grid inspection and maintenance.<\/p>\n

Read more New York added 30,640 tech workers in 3 years, surpassing San Francisco as AI hiring surges<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America\u2019s energy sector is thriving thanks to AI. The only issue? 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