A slowdown in the creation of energy jobs is a ‘temporary blip’, according to global executive search firm Kinsey Allen International.

Office of National Statistics research analysed by Kinsey Allen show the number of jobs in the energy sector have increased by 14.7% over the last five years, although the economic downturn has reduced industrial output, cutting demand for electricity and natural gas and jobs in the sector.  

Mark Tomlinson, Kinsey Allen’s global head of the energy, commodities, and environmental practice, says:  “In the short term, the sector was protected by sustained residential demand.  

“But in the longer term, growth has been driven by the past decade’s key macro-trends in European utilities: international expansion, deregulation, and competition for both customers and suppliers.  

“The key to the sector’s growth over the last five years though, has been China.  And when the recession came, its utilities sector took advantage of the decreased commodity prices and global financing issues to expand their natural resources and utilities infrastructure.  Energy jobs will continue to be created in the UK and globally as demand from the BRIC economies – particularly China and India – increases.”