Anticipating the impacts of light-duty vehicle electrification on the U.S. automotive service workforce

Abstract

Abstract This paper draws on publicly available data from the Current Population Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as estimates from 25 studies, to understand how a transition to electric vehicles may impact workers in the vehicle services sector. We examine the structure of the current vehicle service workforce, characterize its unique vulnerabilities along several dimensions, and evaluate how it may be impacted by rising EV adoption. Careful attention to how the benefits and costs of widespread vehicle electrification are distributed is essential to inform effective policy to support workers and communities through an EV transition, and this analysis provides a starting point for understanding these impacts. More generally, the case of vehicle service workers suggests that understanding indirect, system-wide impacts of the broader clean energy transition may inform a more just transition, which may in turn help to maintain and expand support for necessary climate action.