Caption: Pointe-a-Pierre refinery
THE Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago says while the energy sector is the major contributor to national income, contributing on average 30-40 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), it only employs about two percent of the national workforce or around 12,700 people.
The Energy Chamber said that over the past decade energy sector employment has fallen significantly, however that decline is complicated by the fact that employment in the sector also varies significantly from quarter to quarter.
It said that the coefficient of variance (a statistical measure of variability) is around 24 per cent for the energy sector, significantly higher than all other sectors where it measured about 3.5 per cent.
The Central Statistical Office (CSO),which publishes quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) Bulletins, noted that industry group for energy covers employment in petroleum and gas, including production, refining and service contractors.
According to the latest from the CSO, in the first quarter of 2025, the average number of people with jobs for all sectors was 558,900, representing a 2.3 per cent decrease from the fourth quarter of last year.
By contrast the number of people with jobs in the energy sector grew from 8,100 people in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 12,800 in the first quarter of this year, a significant increase of 58 per cent.
The Chamber explained, “While the pattern of employment in the energy sector does vary significantly from one quarter to the next, there has been an overall decline in employment in the sector in the past decade. The closure of the Petrotrin refinery in 2018 resulted in a significant dip in employment in the sector in 2019 but since then average annual numbers employed have stabilized. ”
It said that any significant increase in jobs in the sector would only come from significant increases in activity levels.
It said construction projects in the industry were a major source of jobs in the 1990s and 2000s as new plants were built in Point Lisas and Atlantic, noting “it is unlikely that there will be any new plant construction work in the foreseeable future, given the gas supply outlook.
“Reopening the refinery could create both permanent jobs and contractor jobs during the activities to refurbish and restart the facility and many in the industry are awaiting further details.”
The government has appointed a 12-member committee headed by former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine, and including former PETROTRIN refinery managers and trade union officials to develop a strategy for the refinery’s reactivation and submit a report by October. (CMC)
