Save the planet by filling Texas’ chemicals jobs
If you’ve scrolled through your newsfeed lately, it’s clear the chemical industry is in need of a serious face-lift. Whether it’s an acute tragedy like the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, or chronic challenges related to the use of pesticides on our food supply, there’s no shortage of headlines highlighting the industry’s challenges.
When I think of modern chemistry, I think of the basis for some of the world’s most groundbreaking innovations — vaccines, electric vehicles, semiconductors, even plant-based meat. For decades, chemistry had been seen as a solution to society’s biggest challenges. But I know not everyone shares that same sentiment. Ask a recent engineering graduate, and you’re much more likely to hear about the downsides of oil, gas and plastics.
The chemical industry needs to address this perception problem if we have any hope of competing for today’s top STEM talent, allowing us to close a growing workforce gap and build the foundation for a more sustainable world.
Gen Z’s commitment to sustainability runs deep. They are suspicious of industries with a history in fossil fuels. The next generation sees our industry as a relic more interested in increasing shareholder dividends than creating life-changing innovations.
This attitude shouldn’t come as a surprise from a generation that feels responsible for fixing the environmental mistakes of previous generations — and they don’t think resources drilled out of the ground, or emitted into the air and water, are the way to do it.
They don’t see the chemicals industry I see. Many Gen Zers don’t realize chemistry is the foundation for our global sustainability blueprint. Take it away, and we can’t build the world Gen Z (and the rest of us) is fighting for. Chemistry is the secret ingredient behind making electric vehicles run longer and turning wastewater into faucet water. And our industry is working on the science that will make hydrogen fuel cells a scalable reality, creating low-emissions solutions for energy and transportation.
Chemistry makes it all possible — electric vehicles, recycling batteries, even wind turbines. But this message isn’t reaching these younger, idealistic workers. Historically, this is an industry that likes to talk about what we do and how we do it. To demonstrate our value to younger workers, we have to start talking more about we’re doing the work and how chemistry offers an opportunity to design the world they want to live in.
And there are plenty of these jobs to go around. According to a Deloitte study, more than 100,000 chemical jobs will remain unfilled through 2030. Texas is already the leading employer of chemical engineers in the country, but the state is expected to see a 25 percent increase in these job postings by 2030. The United States will need Texas to fill these jobs to complete the ambitious climate goals we’re shooting for.
The best way to solve the world’s climate challenges isn’t by avoiding the chemical industry — it’s by joining the scientists who are creating solutions today that will change the world tomorrow.
I wish more people saw chemistry the way I do. Big tech may get the headlines, but chemistry is where we are creating the climate solutions of the future. Despite chemistry’s huge investments in the future of sustainability, we still have a long way to go in changing the perception of the work we do. For younger Texans who want work that has the potential to change the world, there’s no better industry than chemistry.