Tomorrow’s world of work in the "hydrogen" value chain
What are the implications of establishing a "hydrogen" value chain for tomorrow's labour market? Which types of skilled workers will be required? Can Germany meet this demand for skilled workers in terms of quantity and quality? A research project of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) addresses these and other questions by means of scenario calculations.
As a storage medium for renewable energies, hydrogen can play a key role in achieving the climate targets. Hydrogen technologies will significantly simplify the energy transition and also make it more affordable. Until these technologies can be implemented on a large scale, extensive research and development work as well as considerable restructuring processes are still pending. To this end, the National Hydrogen Strategy is promoting a market ramp-up for green hydrogen to decarbonise the energy and economic system.
This will have far-reaching consequences for the needs of the labour market and thus for the education and training system in Germany. To ensure that the implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy is not slowed down by shortages of skilled workers, it is necessary to identify at an early stage which occupations, qualifications and skills will be needed in the future. It is also required to evaluate whether the current development path in the education system can cover these future needs.
These questions are addressed by the project “labour demand and labour supply along the "hydrogen" value chain”, which started on October 1, 2021.
The project builds on the BIBB-IAB Qualification and Occupation Projections (QuBe). The macroeconomic forecast and simulation model used in the QuBe project can be applied to analyse the impacts of the National Hydrogen Strategy on economic development and on the labour market. This illustrates which macroeconomic skilled labour requirements will result in the future from the implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy.
The project is one of currently two BMBF-funded BIBB projects on the topic of hydrogen.