Over the last few years, AFPM has increased its efforts to attract people to the wide range of careers in the fuel and petrochemical industries in anticipation of not only a wave of retirements that will hit the industries in the next 5-10 years, but also tremendous growth thanks to the shale revolution. For example, as of this month 274 chemical industry projects representing cumulative capital investments totaling $170.6 billion in the U.S. have been announced or are underway.
To serve as a portal for individuals interested in learning more about careers in the fuel and petrochemical industries, AFPM has an expansive workforce website that covers everything from career paths, career resources, frequently asked questions and links to career sites for all of our member companies. The website has proven effective in getting the word out about our great industries and the range of career opportunities.
However, we asked ourselves if we could do more to reach out to other targeted populations to educate them about our industry and the range of careers. According to the Census Bureau, the Hispanic population in the U.S. is currently at approximately 55 million people and constitutes 17 percent of the nation’s total population. That number is expected to grow to 119 million individuals by 2060 and make up 28.6 percent of the nation’s population by that date. Specific to our industries, according to the 2016 IHS report “Minority and Female Employment in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical Industries,” Hispanic workers account for about 20 percent of our total industries' workforce and that number is projected to increase to 28.5 percent by 2035. With this information in mind, we decided that we needed to do more to reach out to this key population.
This month AFPM launched a new workforce development website in Spanish in order to broaden our career educational outreach. This website provides another avenue to inform interested individuals about our industries. The website also helps support our enhanced outreach efforts with organizations such as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Hispanics in Energy.
AFPM is focused on doing more to engage with this important demographic. As we like to say, “Ya sea que esté interesado en convertirse en un profesional cualificado o en un hombre de negocios, en un ingeniero o en un químico, la industria petrolera y la petroquímica ofrecen una gran cantidad de oportunidades para personas reales como usted.”
