6.4.3 Employment Supply Structure
The workforce in China’s energy industry
encompasses rural migrant workers, graduates
from vocational schools, and graduates from
colleges and universities. As there is a relatively
large number of rural migrant workers in primary
energy
exploitation
(mainly
coal),
capacity-cutting will hit those workers hard.
Booming clean energy fields like wind, solar and
nuclear power require skilled people. They need
employees with expertise in the relevant technologies. Increasingly, graduates from vocational
schools and colleges and universities will be
attracted to these sectors.
Graduates from vocational schools are generally more educated than rural migrant workers
and more skilled than college graduates. They
also have a comparative advantage in labour cost
than rural migrant workers and the average college graduate. In the future, they might be
employed in clean energy equipment manufacturing, installation and maintenance.
Relative to the lower-wage requirement of
rural migrant workers and the higher
reward/price ratio of graduates from vocational
schools, college graduates with better skills are
mainly working in technical development in the
energy industry. However, the number of college
and university graduates is growing rapidly. In
2015, a record 7.49 million students graduated
from colleges and universities in China. In
addition, as university college reform progresses
slowly, and graduate qualifications deviate to
some extent from societal requirements, the
employment situation in China, especially in
those provinces with a large number of graduates, looks grim.
7 China’s Energy Revolution:
Measures, Policies
and Adjustments
The low-carbon and efficiency requirements of
the energy revolution drive the transformation
and diversification of the energy supply system.
To deliver a successful energy revolution, measures need to be taken to cut capacity in, and shift
to the clean production of, primary energy, and
expand secondary energy applications. Policies
and proposals need to be developed to guide
investment in the relevant energy sectors and
solve the reemployment problem of surplus
workers laid off by conventional energy companies. This section will, therefore, analyse the
measures, policies and proposals for China’s
energy revolution from the following three perspectives: the primary energy revolution, the
secondary energy revolution, and policies and
proposals for energy supply-side investment and
reemployment.
7.1 Measures for the Primary Energy
Revolution
Excessive energy consumption and environmental degradation urgently require the energy
revolution to make progress. The goals of the
primary energy revolution include: (i) substituting clean energy for fossil energy, shutting down
outdated capacity and shifting to the green production of fossil energy; (ii) the rapid development and efficient use of renewable energy; and
(iii) the development of new energy production
technologies, exploration, and the use of this new
energy.
7.1.1 Fossil Energy Supply Revolution
The fossil energy revolution mainly concerns
coal, oil and gas. In terms of coal, the revolution
is about the safe, cost-effective, green and efficient development of coal resources. In terms of
oil and gas, it requires an equal focus on conventional and unconventional resources—onshore and offshore and at all depths, from
shallow to ultra-deep.
(1) Coal supply revolution
(1) Keep the exploitation of coal resources within
acceptable environmental limits to ensure reasonable and scientific capacity
Coal production should be reduced and the
low-carbon and zero-carbon world energy trends
fully understood to ensure that the coal industry
is aligned with scientific capacity requirements.
174
W. Xiaoming et al.
The workforce in China’s energy industry
encompasses rural migrant workers, graduates
from vocational schools, and graduates from
colleges and universities. As there is a relatively
large number of rural migrant workers in primary
energy
exploitation
(mainly
coal),
capacity-cutting will hit those workers hard.
Booming clean energy fields like wind, solar and
nuclear power require skilled people. They need
employees with expertise in the relevant technologies. Increasingly, graduates from vocational
schools and colleges and universities will be
attracted to these sectors.
Graduates from vocational schools are generally more educated than rural migrant workers
and more skilled than college graduates. They
also have a comparative advantage in labour cost
than rural migrant workers and the average college graduate. In the future, they might be
employed in clean energy equipment manufacturing, installation and maintenance.
Relative to the lower-wage requirement of
rural migrant workers and the higher
reward/price ratio of graduates from vocational
schools, college graduates with better skills are
mainly working in technical development in the
energy industry. However, the number of college
and university graduates is growing rapidly. In
2015, a record 7.49 million students graduated
from colleges and universities in China. In
addition, as university college reform progresses
slowly, and graduate qualifications deviate to
some extent from societal requirements, the
employment situation in China, especially in
those provinces with a large number of graduates, looks grim.
7 China’s Energy Revolution:
Measures, Policies
and Adjustments
The low-carbon and efficiency requirements of
the energy revolution drive the transformation
and diversification of the energy supply system.
To deliver a successful energy revolution, measures need to be taken to cut capacity in, and shift
to the clean production of, primary energy, and
expand secondary energy applications. Policies
and proposals need to be developed to guide
investment in the relevant energy sectors and
solve the reemployment problem of surplus
workers laid off by conventional energy companies. This section will, therefore, analyse the
measures, policies and proposals for China’s
energy revolution from the following three perspectives: the primary energy revolution, the
secondary energy revolution, and policies and
proposals for energy supply-side investment and
reemployment.
7.1 Measures for the Primary Energy
Revolution
Excessive energy consumption and environmental degradation urgently require the energy
revolution to make progress. The goals of the
primary energy revolution include: (i) substituting clean energy for fossil energy, shutting down
outdated capacity and shifting to the green production of fossil energy; (ii) the rapid development and efficient use of renewable energy; and
(iii) the development of new energy production
technologies, exploration, and the use of this new
energy.
7.1.1 Fossil Energy Supply Revolution
The fossil energy revolution mainly concerns
coal, oil and gas. In terms of coal, the revolution
is about the safe, cost-effective, green and efficient development of coal resources. In terms of
oil and gas, it requires an equal focus on conventional and unconventional resources—onshore and offshore and at all depths, from
shallow to ultra-deep.
(1) Coal supply revolution
(1) Keep the exploitation of coal resources within
acceptable environmental limits to ensure reasonable and scientific capacity
Coal production should be reduced and the
low-carbon and zero-carbon world energy trends
fully understood to ensure that the coal industry
is aligned with scientific capacity requirements.
174
W. Xiaoming et al.