Yes, Virginia (and 49 other states) Oil and Natural Gas Means Jobs
Mark Green
Posted June 12, 2013
BusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
- See more at: http://energytomorrow.org/blog/yes-virginia-and-49-other-states-oil-and-natural-gas-means-jobs/#/type/allBusinessInsider.com has an article disparaging oil and natural gas sector employment, as well as the industry’s ability to create new jobs:
… let's look at oil and gas mining. The industry really employs very few people. Less than 200K people are in the oil and gas extraction business. … And on a month over month basis, just 500 or so new jobs were created in May. … So while oil and gas is a big exciting story, it’s not directly a big source of new jobs.
Both points to the more than 6,000 people now working in direct industry jobs that were added from April to May of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BusinessInsider.com’s piece is fairly shortsighted, failing to acknowledge what nearly every economist acknowledges – that a business sector’s real employment measure includes direct jobs but also supporting and associated jobs. And even on direct jobs they fall down, counting simply the people doing actual drilling as representing the “industry” would be like basing employment in the airline industry on just the number of pilots. For example, bringing in just one other employment category, “support activities for oil and gas operations,” which includes exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping); excavating slush pits and cellars, well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells, shooting wells; perforating well casings; acidizing and chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing, and swabbing wells shows an additional 292,100 people employed by the industry in April, according to BLS. We have heard the non-jobs story before, and the facts are that the industry supports 9.2 million Americans, all of them real people drawing real paychecks – paychecks that might not exist without underlying oil and natural gas activity.
For example, it’s generally accepted that natural gas development in Pennsylvania has rekindled manufacturing in Ohio as the makers of steel pipe, equipment and other materials respond to the supply and service needs of natural gas producers in the Marcellus Shale. Likewise, hotel, restaurant and other service jobs have skyrocketed in places where oil and natural gas activity is ongoing. That’s a big reason the unemployment rate in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is producing record amounts of oil, is 3.3 percent.
The oil and natural gas industry is a growing, exciting place to be. Business Insider.com’s own chart depicts a sharp increase in just one area of direct industry employment, and that’s good news. Developing more of our own energy here at home could make things even more exciting. Wood Mackenzie’s analysis says that with the right policies our industry could create 1 million new jobs by 2018 and 1.4 million by 2030, while generating an additional $800 billion in cumulative revenue for government by 2030. That’s a news story no one should overlook, or try and diminish.
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.