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Job outlook for power plant operations managers in the United States
Are power plant operations manager jobs in demand?
Power plant operations manager job and salary trends over time
Power plant operations manager jobs over time
Power plant operations manager job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 92 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 94 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 90 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 87 | 0.00% |
Average power plant operations manager salary over time
Power plant operations manager salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $125,151 | $60.17 | +2.8% |
| 2024 | $121,685 | $58.50 | --0.1% |
| 2023 | $121,866 | $58.59 | +0.5% |
| 2022 | $121,239 | $58.29 | +1.1% |
| 2021 | $119,910 | $57.65 | +1.6% |
Power plant operations manager jobs by state
Most common states for power plant operations managers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 435 | 63% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 431 | 32% |
| 3 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,748 | 31% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 319 | 30% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 171 | 30% |
| 6 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 918 | 29% |
| 7 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 887 | 29% |
| 8 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 2,771 | 27% |
| 9 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 1,807 | 27% |
| 10 | Delaware | 961,939 | 258 | 27% |
| 11 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 235 | 27% |
| 12 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,768 | 26% |
| 13 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 760 | 26% |
| 14 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 2,524 | 25% |
| 15 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,841 | 25% |
| 16 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 1,010 | 24% |
| 17 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 467 | 24% |
| 18 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 315 | 24% |
| 19 | Alaska | 739,795 | 178 | 24% |
| 20 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 1,006 | 23% |
Most common cities for power plant operations managers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tucker | 1 | 4% | $97,208 |
Power Plant Operations Manager job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of power plant operations manager experts
Sam Houston State University
Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College - City University of New York
Farmingdale State College
The City College of New York
Sonoma State University
Carliss Miller Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of ManagementSam Houston State University
Department of Management & Marketing
What's a good job out of college for Power Plant Operations Managers?
Carliss Miller Ph.D.: Good jobs out of college are those that offer structured training, development, and job rotation. While some college students identified their career at age 5 and never veered away, some are still figuring out what they want to do after college. A job opportunity that recognizes the potential of new talent, willing to invest in training and development, and provides opportunities for new employees to experience different job functions enables new graduates to gain a realistic job preview that pays and allows them to identify an opportunity within the company that best aligns with skills and interests. Positions that are for a specific job function but have an apprenticeship model, like a "sales trainee" position, are also great for career stepping stones right out of college.
Dr. Mary Kern Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorZicklin School of Business at Baruch College - City University of New York
Narendra P. Loomba Department of Management
What technical skills for a Power Plant Operations Manager stand out to employers?
Dr. Mary Kern Ph.D.: - Clearly, the ability to use different forms of communication technology has become key, and as these forms evolve rapidly, employers are look for an ability to adapt, adopt, and teach them to their colleagues.
- Evidence-based management and decision-making are playing a much larger role in organizations, and thus the ability to work with quantitative data to understand situations and to help make decisions is crucial.
Xu Zhang Ph.D.
ChairFarmingdale State College
Department of Economics
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Power Plant Operations Manager job market given the pandemic?
Xu Zhang Ph.D.: There are a few trends in the current job maket.
- Slow recovery. Based on the December job market reports released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market slowly recovered since April, but about 44% of the prepandemic jobs have not been gained back. Between March and April, about 22.16 million jobs were lost. The U.S. labor market started to revive in May, and since then until December the market experienced 23.32 million job gains, roughly 56% of pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate decreased gradually from April (14.8%) to December (6.7%), but still almost twice its pre-pandemic level in February (3.5%). Additionally, although the number of unemployed persons dropped from 23.11million in April to 10.74 million in December 2020, there is still a huge gap compared to 5.72 million in February.
- Uneven impacts by industries. While overall economy was hard hit by the pandemic, the job losses disproportionally impacted industry sectors. Service industries such as educational service, elective healthcare, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services, have been hurt the most due to social distancing. Other job losses in retail service sector were related to a boom on online shopping. In addition, teenagers experienced record high unemployment rate which is associated with lack of experiences and working in hard-hit service industries.
- More employers embracing remote work. The perception of remote work has totally changed during the pandemic. After experiencing sudden changes to remote work and managing the obstacles working at home, more and more workers and employers embrace remote work, which would expand the layouts of job hunting and talent search to larger geographic areas.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Power Plant Operations Managers?
Prabal Kumar De Ph.D.: I think there will be impacts in the short term. The most important one, obviously, is the short-term job market. Although the COVID-19 recession's effect has been less severe for college graduates so far, the new opportunities are limited and will remain so at least through 2021. For many students, learning has been affected due to remote instruction, mental stress, or the lack of peer support. Sometimes, such setback is reflected in grades, which is bad enough, but such effects may often impair career skills in the medium-term.
Craig Nathanson Ph.D.
Adjunct LecturerSonoma State University
School of Business & Economics
What type of skills will young Power Plant Operations Managers need?
Craig Nathanson Ph.D.: I see the essential human skills gaining importance to build a new post-covid work life. These include creativity, leading and working in teams, writing, speaking, being self-aware, and lowering bias and networking; career branding as critical areas for graduates to focus on now.