State of the offshore wind jobs market

[contraindicator]

I am interested in hearing what other people’s thoughts and experiences are on the state of the offshore wind jobs market in the UK, with a particular focus on experienced contractors.

For a few years there it seemed like offshore wind was a bullet-proof market, with significant and ongoing demand for experienced people on the design side (and in offshore roles).

However, it seems that with the advent of higher interest rates, some international push-back on net zero, inflation, plus some underperforming assets, the wind is definitely coming out of the sails so to speak.

My suspicion is that companies (both in development and engineering) in aggregate are cutting back on the numbers of expensive contractors, initially in favour of cheap young permanent staff, but probably ultimately across the spectrum. Project cancellations and failed auctions in various countries are well known. On the other hand there is still a huge amount of hype around offshore wind conferences and amongst recruitment agents, however I feel that the reality is different.

I spent several months last year looking for a new contract role in offshore wind following the completion of the previous project I worked on. And in my new role, the project team has been asked to find significant project cost savings, presumably ‘or else’ (the project could be canned).

What are people’s thoughts – is the project pipeline drying up, is the workforce sufficiently supplied such that better paid roles are disappearing? Or was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time last year? Are people making Plan B's?

[smegal]

Given how many gigawatts have secured leases in scotwind and INTOG, it's probably a pretty safe job market.

I imagine contract roles are a bit more tricky. I'm a consultant, and we seem to be pretty busy.

[Oliver90owner]

On the other hand there is still a huge amount of hype around offshore wind conferences and amongst recruitment agents, however I feel that the reality is different.

I’ve no real comment on the industry position, but my obvious comment to the above is ‘‘what else would you expect from the examples quoted’’. It is their means of income!