Oil and gas companies across the nation and around the world are still having trouble filling open positions. Does that surprise you? With all the talk about electric vehicles (EVs) taking over, one might think that the oil and gas industry would be shrinking as manufacturers focus on battery-powered vehicles in lieu of those that still burn fossil fuels.

However, according to a recent Reuters article by Nathan Gomes, “[s]hares of legacy automakers have outpaced their electric counterparts over the last few weeks, as investors respond to company decisions to prioritize higher-margin, gas-powered models instead of pure battery vehicles.”

Gomes notes that “[e]lectric vehicle demand has slowed of late, suggesting the transition away from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles will take longer than expected,” as automobile manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes “have scaled back on their ambitious EV plans.”

In addition to inconsistent demand, EV manufacturers note “that manufacturing and development costs, spurred by pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, have gone up even as their sales have suffered.” Compounding problems is the fact that “[c]ompetition in the sector, especially from cheaper Chinese EV brands, has also heated up.”

The EV market is obviously evolving quickly, and no one yet knows how things are going to go. Will EVs grow in popularity, eventually replacing gas-powered vehicles? If so, how long will that transition take? It’s anyone’s guess at this point. What is clear currently is that automakers are content to continue producing popular gas-powered vehicles as EV demand ebbs and flows.

That means the oil and gas sector will continue to see high demand for traditional fossil fuels. It also means that the ongoing skills gap affecting industries in all sectors will continue to make finding highly skilled workers a top priority for oil and gas companies.

To both attract and retain skilled workers in a tight labor market, oil and gas companies need to prioritize training. Unfortunately, the people tasked with making sure workers possess the skills they need often don’t feel confident in their abilities to institute a quality training program. What they need is an industry partner that can supply them with the knowledge and tools they need to train workers quickly and effectively.

Bayport Technical has been partnering with oil and gas companies for many years to provide the tools they need to be successful. Be sure to check out Bayport Technical’s wide variety of hands-on oil and gas training systems that feature the real-world components today’s oil and gas workers will encounter in the field!