Mapping hydrogen-related employment patterns: A multi-sectoral analysis of recruitment data in three Scandinavian countries

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2025

This paper examines how emerging employment patterns reflect the early-stage structuring of the hydrogen economy in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Drawing on socio-technical systems theory and cluster analysis, we analyze 3,055 hydrogen-related job postings collected between August 2023 and September 2024. By applying unsupervised machine learning to categorize region-sector-job role combinations, we identify six distinct employment clusters, and four additional clusters focused specifically on engineering roles. Our findings show that hydrogen-related recruitment activity builds on existing industrial capabilities, regional specializations, and institutional frameworks. Norway's recruitment patterns align with its offshore energy and engineering sectors; Denmark exhibits a capital-concentrated, research-driven configuration; and Sweden's activity is centered on incumbent utilities integrating hydrogen into energy infrastructure. Engineering roles dominate across countries, yet the distribution of technical competencies and actor types varies significantly. This study contributes methodologically to sustainability transitions research by demonstrating how recruitment data can serve as early indicators of evolving socio-technical configurations. We show how cluster analysis can trace emerging employment structures and capture the spatial, sectoral, and competence dimensions of technological change. These insights contribute to the empirical study of sustainability transitions by revealing how national industrial structures, actor configurations, and sectoral linkages shape early labor market dynamics in the hydrogen economy.