According to Glenn Johnson, head of workforce development for BASF, the message to students and individuals who are considering a career in manufacturing is an optimistic one.
"Within the next 10 years, manufacturing is projected to need approximately 4.6 million jobs. Because the general public is unaware of the high pay and the high level of job satisfaction, that is essentially the nature of these jobs," Johnson said. "If you point your career toward manufacturing, and in particular, petrochemical, you've got some real prospects in your future."
Johnson noted that many people might have "a bad perception" of the petrochemical industry based on environmental and safety concerns.
"Because of that, we're projecting not being able to hire nearly enough of those 4.6 million jobs," Johnson said during the Gulf Coast Industry Forum.
Carla Thompson, workforce development manager for Turner Industries LLC, said the number of people needed to fill jobs in the construction and maintenance industries is going to continue to grow.
"Right now, about 38 percent of the population is at or really close to retirement age," Thompson said. "So we have to have people just to replace the workforce we already have, plus add more."
Thompson said there is good news to share.
"If you live in the Houston or the Texas Gulf Coast region, that is the hub of the petrochemical industry," she said. "The opportunities for strong, great students are going to be endless."
David King, workforce development manager for INEOS, observed that because of these workforce demographics, job demand in the petrochemical industry is expected to remain robust despite the reality that, due to the COVID-19 crisis, some industry projects have been canceled or slowed down.
"We're still going to have the jobs," King said. "A number of projects are still being built that were already in progress. We're seeing more projects in the future due to the fact that we have such major engagement in this region, partially due to the fact that we have a 'shale gas renaissance,' which is really reliant on our industry - both from an energy standpoint and also the raw materials we use. That will persist."
According to King, shale has changed the dynamic for the petrochemical industry and made Texas the economic engine for the U.S. for the past five to 10 years, with more than $80 billion in investment. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are directly related to shale's impact on construction, operations and maintenance jobs, but indirect jobs in terms of the services that support the petrochemical industry are also generated, he said.
"There are a lot of very strong underpinnings for our region that would suggest this is going to be a great industry to be in for the longer term," King added. "When we're talking about our industry and the roles in it, we're not talking about jobs; we're talking about careers. We're talking about things that you're going to be in for 15, 20 or 30 years. Maybe not in the same role, but you're going to build a career and not just a job."
Discussing the types of skills needed for people to fill these roles in the petrochemical industry, Byron Brister, senior HR partner -- HYCO for Air Products' south regions and North America operations, said candidates must possess the ability to communicate and work in a team environment.
"It's absolutely a necessity for you to be able to work with others and communicate what's going on not only [in terms of] what your job is, but also the jobs that other folks are doing at the sites," he said.
Problem-solving and critical thinking skills are equally essential to success in the industry, he said.
"That's not necessarily something you're going to learn in school. You have to have an interest in how something works," Brister said.
