Author Description

To address the challenges of ensuring a skilled, adaptable workforce for the energy sector in southwestern Pennsylvania, the National Energy Technology Laboratory asked the RAND Corporation to help determine how the postsecondary education and training system could meet the growing and shifting skill demands for semiskilled labor in the energy sector due to technological innovation through 2020. The study had four objectives: (1) document key technological innovations in the energy sector; (2) identify possible best practices of educational and training programs that have successfully responded to evolving labor markets in other sectors; (3) conduct a case-study analysis of four energy-sector education and training programs in southwestern Pennsylvania; and (4) provide recommendations for the energy-sector education and training system in southwestern Pennsylvania. This report documents the findings and makes recommendations for improvement.