Manpower needs in energy research and development

Abstract

Under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, ERDA was mandated to help assure an adequate supply of manpower for the accomplishment of energy research and development programs by, among other things, assuring the collection, analysis, and dissemination of necessary manpower supply and demand data. To carry out this mandate, a Manpower Assessment Office was established in 1976 which set for itself a three‐fold mission: (1) to implement ERDA’s explicit manpower analysis mandate as specified in the 1974 legislation plus the Act’s general mandate for near and long‐term planning; (2) to provide a rational and credible basis for ERDA’s education and training decisions through independent manpower assessment; and (3) to utilize the manpower assessment capability of other Federal agencies and private organizations both to avoid unnecessary duplication and to comply with the charge in the 1974 Act to build on the efforts of other public and private agencies. During the approximately one‐year period since the Manpower Assessment Office came into existence an overall five‐year plan has been devised which will: develop a comprehensive manpower information system to provide base line data on professional, technical, and skilled manpower; design a series of methodologies so that information can be converted to program intelligence; and undertake a program of recurring assessments to provide timely and relevant intelligence as a basis for energy program and policy decisions. By 1982, it is anticipated that near‐, and long‐term assessments of manpower requirements and supply will be available for each energy technology program area so that whatever appropriate actions are necessary can be taken to assure adequate numbers of qualified personnel to accomplish national research development and demonstration objectives.