UK oil and gas workers facing job loss: are they experiencing a Just Transition?

Kirsty Denyer, Yelena Kalyuzhnova and Tatiana Rowson

Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK

The UK’s oil and gas industry is declining and evolving, due to declining hydrocarbon reserves in the North Sea, and the energy sector’s net zero transformation. Amid calls for a ‘just’ transition that leaves no-one behind (Barry, 2019), highly skilled oil and gas workers may find themselves at a disadvantage in the job market as fossil fuel extraction declines. UK trade unions and the Scottish Government have highlighted the need for reskilling initiatives, and continued access to good quality jobs, to achieve a Just Transition for oil and gas workers (TUC, 2019; Just Transition Commission, 2020).

This qualitative study explores the reality of a Just Transition, operationalised as ‘re-employment success’ (Wanberg, 2012, p377), as experienced by workers facing job loss from the UK oil and gas industry. The study presents analysis of semi-structured interview data, collected from 24 UK oil and gas workers with experience of job loss, and with 13 industry stakeholders; and analysed using template analysis and abductive reasoning techniques. Analysis focused on identifying contextual and individual-level factors that influence access to reemployment after job loss. Features of the UK oil and gas industry that influence access to replacement work were identified as its boom and bust nature; its trajectory of decline, evolution and uncertainty; and the unique industry culture. Within this context, individual-level factors identified as enabling displaced workers to gain reemployment comprise health resources (physical and mental health); psychological resources (e.g. a positive mindset, resilience, adaptability); and practical resources (e.g. personal finances, social networks). In particular, the importance of maintaining mental wellbeing by ‘managing the spiral’ during a challenging time was highlighted. Thus, an individual has two goals after job loss from UK oil and gas: the explicit goal of finding reemployment; and the hidden goal managing the mental health spiral while coping with unemployment.

This is the first empirical study to explore the reality of a Just Transition by giving voice to UK oil and gas workers experiencing job loss as the industry evolves and declines. The interpretation of interview data suggests that no real Just Transition yet exists for UK oil and gas workers. Renewable energy job opportunities do not exist in large enough volumes to absorb displaced oil and gas workers, and, despite much concern from industry stakeholders, there is currently a lack of tangible support such as clarity over future job opportunities in the energy sector, and corresponding reskilling support. Currently, therefore, the responsibility for creating a Just Transition lies with each individual, who must draw on their own health, psychological and practical resources to find quality replacement work. Individuals with low levels of these resources were interpreted as being particularly at risk of not finding quality reemployment and, therefore, of not experiencing a Just Transition.