The Value of a Job
Mark Green
Posted November 18, 2011
Every job counts. Yet, in an economy where 14 million Americans are out of work, you'll still hear or read things disparaging honest employment - like the shots taken at a recent study that said the oil and natural gas industry could generate more than 1 million new jobs by 2020.
Some dismiss the analysis because it would take eight years to create a million new jobs - as though nearly 200,000 jobs next year and more than 600,000 by 2015 are immaterial. Others scoff at "induced" jobs spun off from industry operations, as though jobs as secretaries, IT support professionals and gasoline station cashiers don't count. A headline on one blog site recently said that with the Keystone XL pipeline on hold, America could focus on creating "real jobs" - as though the project's requirements for workers, suppliers and technicians were a mirage.
Again, with unemployment where it is, diminishing job creation of any kind is absurd. Every job is important to the one holding it. Every potential job represents hope to those looking for one. Here's a video where working men and women talk about the Keystone XL project's importance to their daily lives and future:
The administration's decision to put off the Keystone XL until early 2013 means many of those families are put off, too, in the sense that the pipeline's construction and the demand for workers - 20,000 while the Keystone XL is being built - and materials is on hold.
The Keystone XL is one example of how the oil and natural gas industry could help the U.S. economy, part of a pro-energy development approach that could produce an additional 500,000 jobs by 2035, part of an energy security strategy that could see 100 percent of our liquid fuel needs met domestically and from Canada by 2026, part of a deficit-cutting solution that could supply more than $800 billion in revenue to government by 2030.
Energy from shale is another big piece of the equation. This piece from WYTV.com in Pennsylvania depicts the regional jobs boom that's occurring because of development in the Marcellus shale:
"According to numbers from Penn State University, it's forecast that 212,000 jobs will be created in the Marcellus shale natural gas play. In the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, which has a population of 182,000 and is adjacent to Williamsport in Lycoming County, 4,100 jobs have already been created since 2009. This past fall, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that Williamsport was the seventh fastest growing metropolitan area in 2010. Vince Matteo, president of the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, even went as far as to say the recession nearly skipped the area thanks to Marcellus shale."
About The Author
Mark Green joined API after a career in newspaper journalism, including 16 years as national editorial writer for The Oklahoman in the paper’s Washington bureau. Previously, Mark was a reporter, copy editor and sports editor at an assortment of newspapers. He earned his journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He and his wife Pamela have two grown children and six grandchildren.