Trump’s energy job promise to clash with scant supply of labour

WASHINGTON (Nov 23): President-elect Donald Trump promises that his sweeping changes to energy policy will create “many millions” of American jobs. Finding all those workers may be the challenge.

World markets are flush with coal and oil, keeping prices subdued and making it difficult for producers to profit from new investments. At the same time, the US labor supply is thinning, meaning that adding millions of jobs in the energy industry alone is a tall order. The entire sector now employs 628,700 people in the US, about half of the peak in 1981, according to Labor Department records.

Trump’s unexpected electoral victory was in part built on his appeal to workers whose industries have suffered long-standing job losses, including coal workers in West Virginia, which registered more than twice as many votes for the billionaire businessman as for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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