Electrician Openings: Growth or Replacement?

“We need more electricians.”

I hear the concern behind that statement. Contractors have work to complete, customers waiting and people carrying a lot of responsibility. But before we turn a national headline into our hiring plan, we need to understand what the number means.

Are we adding capacity? Replacing someone who left? Preparing for a retirement? Or trying to solve a training problem by hiring somebody else?

Those questions lead to different decisions. By the end of this article, you will be able to separate growth from replacement and build a short review of your own crew needs.

How many electrician openings are projected?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 72,700 electrician openings per year, on average, over 2025–2035. It projects employment growth of 9% over that full decade. The annual openings figure includes replacement needs as well as growth. It is a national projection, not a count of unfilled jobs today or a forecast for your local company. Source: BLS Electricians Occupational Outlook Handbook.

BLS also explains that its occupational openings measure does not count a worker moving to another employer while staying in the same occupation. That matters: an electrician leaving your company for another contractor is still a real loss for your crew, even though that move is different from leaving the occupation. Source: BLS occupational separations methodology.

What problem are you trying to solve?

I want contractors to be honest about this before putting another hiring ad out. Write the reason for each open role in plain language.

• Growth: We have supported work demand beyond our existing capacity.
• Replacement: Someone left, and their responsibilities still need coverage.
• Planned transition: An experienced employee has told us they intend to change roles or retire.
• Skill coverage: We have people, but a particular responsibility lacks appropriately qualified coverage.
• Work organization: We need to check whether unclear scope, missing material or preventable interruptions are consuming the capacity we already have.

These categories can overlap. They are a way to ask better questions, not an excuse to delay a necessary hire or stretch a crew beyond safe limits.

Make one row for each real need

Use a simple worksheet you can create in a notebook or spreadsheet. Record the responsibility, the reason coverage is needed, the date it is needed, the required qualification and the person responsible for the next decision.

Here is a hypothetical example: “Service troubleshooting coverage; current lead plans to move into estimating; transition date agreed with the employee; qualified service technician required; owner will compare recruiting with an appropriate supervised development plan.”

That tells you more than “need another guy.” It identifies a specific capability and a transition you must manage. It also makes clear that an apprentice cannot simply be counted as an immediate replacement for an experienced, qualified electrician.

Review who leaves before you decide to double hiring

Look at a consistent period in your own records. How many people started? How many are still employed? Which departures were voluntary, which were employer initiated, and which were planned? What do you actually know about the reasons?

Do not turn an unanswered question into “they did not want to work.” Record unknown reasons as unknown. If employees choose to give feedback, keep it appropriately private and look for patterns you can address in the way the business operates.

My view is that contractor development belongs in the labor-shortage conversation. Our leadership, communication and training affect the experience we offer. National projections cannot tell us which of those needs attention inside our own company.

Your next step

Before the next hiring meeting, bring three things: the responsibilities you need covered, the evidence of work demand, and what you learned from recent departures. Then decide what requires hiring, what requires development and what requires a better process.

Continue with Before You Hire an Electrician, Calculate the Cost of the Problem and building a workable electrical crew schedule. We should be able to explain the opportunity we are creating before asking someone to join us.