Nation's oil products pipeline system has few reserves for its workforce

The nation's largest oil products pipeline system faces the impending retirement of a quarter of its workforce and competition from other industries for new employees as it prepares a large expansion of operations, its chief executive told a US Senate committee on Nov. 6.

Oil and gas industry consolidation sharply reduced employment by more than 500,000 jobs from 1982 through 2000, Colonial Pipeline Co. President and CEO Norm Szydlowski told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing on energy industry employment.

"While Colonial's employment remained relatively stable during those years, we have had to deal with the same shrinking pool of candidates applying for careers within the overall industry. We are competing hard for candidates who may have fewer skills than candidates 10 years ago," he said in his written testimony.

Industry-wide, the petroleum sector estimates 27% of its workforce is within 5 years of retirement. That figure is the same for Colonial's workforce. The problem is worse among the people who operate the pipeline, where nearly one in five employees is eligible to retire within 2 years," Szydlowski said.

Read more about skilled worker shortages and visit the Perfect Labor Storm website.