Employment Effects of Transition to a Hydrogen Economy in the U.S.

This book identifies possible employment impacts that could result from hydrogen market expansion in the transportation, stationary and portable power sectors. Any study of potential future impacts presents difficult challenges and involves significant uncertainties. This study estimates the employment impacts of a transformation of the U.S. economy to the use of hydrogen between 2020 and 2050. This time frame was selected because the ongoing efforts to develop hydrogen based transportation and stationary technologies indicate that broad-based commercial and industrial use of and the first significant employment impacts from those technologies are most likely to emerge within the indicated time frame. This book highlights possible skill and educational needs to support the associated industries and technologies. In addition to the specific skill requirements of the fuel cell industry, future education of the next generation are discussed, focusing on skill sets that have the ability to adapt to changing technologies.