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20 Stunning Facts About Energy Jobs In The US
For all those who think the upcoming carnage to the shale industry will be "contained" we refer to the following research report from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research:
- The United States is now the world’s largest and fastest-growing producer of hydrocarbons. It has surpassed Saudi Arabia in combined oil and natural gas liquids output and has now surpassed Russia, formerly the top producer, in natural gas. [ZH: that's about to change]
- The increased production of domestic hydrocarbons not only employs people directly but also radically reduces the drag on growth and job formation associated with America’s trade deficit.
- As the White House Council of Economic Advisors noted this past summer: “Every barrel of oil or cubic foot of gas that we produce at home instead of importing abroad means more jobs, faster growth, and a lower trade deficit.” [the focus now is not on the oil produced at home, which is set to plunge, but the consumer "tax cut" from plunging oil prices]
- Since 2003, more than 400,000 jobs have been created in the direct production of oil & gas and some 2 million more in indirect employment in industries such as transportation, construction, and information services associated with finding, transporting, and storing fuels from the new shale bounty.
- All told, about 10 million Americans are employed directly and indirectly in a broad range of businesses associated with hydrocarbons.
- There are 16 states with more than 150,000 people employed in hydrocarbon-related activities. Even New York, which continues to ban the production of shale oil & gas, is seeing job benefits in a range of support and service industries associated with shale development in adjacent Pennsylvania.

- Direct employment in the oil & gas industry had been declining for 30 years but has recently reversed course, with the availability of new technologies to developshale fields. Nearly 300,000 direct oil & gas jobs have been created following the 2003 nadir in that sector’s direct employment.
- The five super-major oil companies—Exxon, BP, Chevron, Shell, Conoco—that operate in the U.S. account for only 10 percent of Americans working directly in the oil & gas business.
- Meanwhile, more than 20,000 other firms are directly involved in the oil & gas industry, and they produce over 75 percent of America’s oil & gas output. The median independent oil & gas firm has fewer than 15 employees. (Note that these data exclude gasoline stations, which employ nearly 1 million people and are overwhelmingly owned by individuals or small businesses.)
- As in the oil & gas industry, most Americans are employed by firms with fewer than 500 employees. Small businesses not only employ half of all American workers but also generate nearly half the nation’s economic output. Young firms tend to be small firms; and young firms tend to emerge disproportionately in areas of rapid growth or new opportunities—such as in and around America’s shale fields.
- A broad array of small and midsize oil & gas companies are propelling record economic and jobs gains—not just in the oil fields but across the economy. The enormous expansion in employment, exports, and tax revenues from the domestic oil & gas revolution is largely attributable to a core and defining feature of America: small businesses.
- The oil & gas sector boom creates “induced” and energy-related jobs. For every direct job, there are, on average, three jobs created in industries such as housing, retail, education, health care, food services, manufacturing, and construction.
- In the 10 states at the epicenter of oil & gas growth, overall statewide employment gains have greatly outpaced the national average. There we see the ripple-out effect on overall (not just oil & gas) employment. The shale boom’s broad jobs benefits are most visible in North Dakota and Texas, of course, where overall state employment growth in all sectors has vastly outpaced U.S. job recovery. Similarly, in the other states that have experienced recent growth in hydrocarbon production—notably, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming—statewide overall (again, not just oil & gas) employment growth has also outpaced the U.S. recovery.
- In addition to the direct and induced jobs, America is beginning to see the economic and jobs impact of a renaissance in energy-intensive parts of the manufacturing sector, from plastics and chemicals to fertilizers. Examples include an Egyptian firm planning a $1 billion fertilizer plant in Iowa and a South Korean tire company with an $800 million plan for a Tennessee plant. Germany’s BASF recently announced expansion of its American investments, including production and research. BASF calculated that its German operations’ energy bill would be $700 million a year lower if it could pay American prices for energy
- The Marcellus shale fields in Pennsylvania were responsible for enabling statewide double-digit job growth in 2010 and 2011 and now account for more than one-fifth of that state’s manufacturing jobs. For every $1 that the Marcellus industry spends in the state, $1.90 of total economic output is generated.
- The typical wage effect of the oil & gas revolution is most clearly visible in Texas. In the 23 counties atop the Eagle Ford shale, average wages for all citizens have grown by 14.6 percent annually since 2005, compared with the 6.8 and 6.3 percent average for Texas and the U.S., respectively, over the same period. The top five counties in the Eagle Ford shale have experienced an average 63 percent annual rate of wage growth. These are the kinds of wage effects sought in every state and by every worker.

- Given the persistent, slow job recovery from the Great Recession, there could not be a more important time in modern history to find ways to foster more small businesses of all kinds, given that they are not only the core engine for growth but also frequently grow rapidly.
Punchline #1:
- The $300–$400 billion overall annual economic gain from the oil & gas boom has been greater than the average annual GDP growth of $200–$300 billion in recent years—in other words, the economy would have continued in recession if it were not for the unplanned expansion of the oil & gas sector.
Punchline #2:
- Hydrocarbon jobs have provided a greater single boost to the U.S. economy than any other sector, without requiring any special taxpayer subsidies—instead generating tax receipts from individual incomes and business growth.
And the final punchline:
- The National Association of Manufacturers estimated that the shale revolution will lead to 1 million manufacturing jobs over the coming decade. Manufacturing jobs pay nearly 30 percent more than the industrial average and generate $1.48 of economic activity for every $1 spent, making manufacturing the highest economic multiplier of all industrial sectors.
Sorry, not anymore.

Now, thanks to John Kerry's "secret pact", and America's close "ally" in the middle-east, Saudi Arabia whose "mission" it no longer to bankrupt Russia but to crush America's shale inddstry, the only question surround the only bright spot for America's economy over the past 6 years is how long before most of the marginal producers file Chapter 11, or 7.
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Shale Bad...
Job's Bad...
Bad!! bad!!!
Another example of the Bankster takedown of the economy. Drive the price of oil down via naked shorts, bankrupt the domestic independent oil industry, buy their assets on the cheap, and then raise the price of oil by covering naked shorts. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Shale Bait.
The Manhattan Institute does not disclose its corporate funding, but the Capital Research Center listed its contributors as Bristol-Myers Squibb, ExxonMobil, Chase Manhattan, Cigna, Sprint Nextel, Reliant Energy, Lincoln Financial Group Foundation, and Merrill Lynch. Throughout the 1990s the tobacco industry was a major funding source for the institute.
Fed starts the bailout in...3.....2.....
Should have had the money up front, low interest suckers. Go ahead, socialize the loses.
Is it time to nationalize North Dakota?
The jobs are temporary. Raping of the land is permanent. Sorry Mr. Roughneck, I hope you didn't overextend yourself during the boom times.
Yeah, EVERYTHING is
BAD
BAD
BAD
The PTB are running amuck
The Bankers are destroying our lives,
Yadda, Yadda, Yadda
and still
while soooo many doomers
self-flagellate about
why the "Markets" continue to
melt up
and
Nothing Is Being Done Abaout It
well maybe it is YOU that is the problem
because you are allowing the banking system to
have no consequesces for their actions?
Stop bitching and start acting on your beliefs.
Can I just add that the dollar will collapse as soon as we run out of zeros.
An incandescent lamp or sun emit more energy / light before go out.
This oil boom in the US is very similar.
The great aggravating shit is the contamination of the water table.
The President gave a shot in both feet.
The first in Ukraine, the second was the agreement to lower the price of oil in Saudi Arabia.
The sons of bitches in his government did not measure consequences, thought the short term, will now have to swallow a "mush pit" - can not find a translation of this expression.
Bird eating stones knows the ass you have.
hehe.
OK, sorry everyone, back to the depression.
Speaking of depression, how can I control my expanded gas problem? Ginger Ale? Medimucal? anyone?
Beano
The Short Answer:
STOP EATING!
It is a PROVEN fact, that every single human being
who has consumed FOOD, has eventually DIED!
If you want to live, STOP EATING!!
Jeez, do I have to spoonfeed this to you??
According to global warming freaks we only have about 3 months to live....go ahead and eat something.....it might be your last meal.
Oddly, I would bet that if the Saudis' crush the USA shale industry you guys would still be BFFs'.
We overpaid some folks
If you weren't in the oil/gas industry you'd have no idea how much domestic growth there has been and how much supply has been added.
How else would people just shrug off overpaying for gas on their 25%APR gas credit card at $4/gallon.
(1) There are energy jobs in the US.
According to Boone Pickens, OPEC is no longer a cartel. And we'll have $100 oil inside 18 months. I'm buying...
"According to Boone Pickens, OPEC is no longer a cartel. And we'll have $100 oil inside 18 months. I'm buying"
FWIW: I have doubts that $100 bbl Oil is sustainable. I think the odds favor demand destruction over $100 (assuming adjusting for inflation). Prices are already falling because people can't afford even $90 bbl. I think the future will be a declining economy for at least the next 20 years. Oil prices will certainly remain volatile. I have a feeling that this correction will put a long term lid on Oil and Gas CapEx. Investors will fear getting burned and Oil companies are not likely to increase CapEx on expensive oil projects without investor backing. Maybe if the Fed starts buying Junk energy bonds the boom can continue, but that seems unlikely at the momement. Without Energy production expansion the economy can't grow. Loss of energy production will force the economic to decline.
Reading closely, I don't see anyone talking about sustainable, AND I note that you are not saying they are.
I believe that Pickens is simply arguing that 18 months from now, oil will hit $100. Between now and 18 months or $100, "The market will flucuate" [JP Morgan].
Remember when T-bone tried to go wind power?
......cause I do.
I think we can officially say that has now been canceled....
http://amarillo.com/stories/071509/new_news5.shtml
It is always interesting to read about wind power etc etc.... Most people seem to forget that the Utilities have a guaranteed rate of return on their capital investment.... Hmmm what would that be called????
I think T-Boone has it right.... it is just that TPTB have held it together way longer than any of us anticipated.... his timing was off.....
I think the future will be a declining economy for at least the next 200 years.
There, fixed it for you.
I don't think it is sustainable either. Populations continue to increase. New discoveries are fewer. Bringing it to market cost more. The world economy is built on it. No prospects in sight for changing this. Do you believe in peak oil? The price goes way beyond $100.
"the only bright spot for America's economy over the past 6 years"
nah, there has been another
US automotive industry has done well ... courtesy of ramping subprime auto loans back to pre-recession peak ... which, er, are starting to go belly up ...
The Q3 delinquency reports should have raised more eyebrows than it did. I suspect this will begin to rise quickly in Q4 and even faster in Q1 '15 if oil stays sub $60. All those roughnecks that bougtht $60k F250s are suddenly not going to be able to make payments with those capex cuts.
The wages paid in this over-priced industry are all fake, and the markets will soon show that.
Half the economy of many smaller towns and suburbs everywhere is dependent on these big paychecks which will soon be gone.
Nowhere more evident than in that totally fake economy of the miserable place known as
North Dakota.
It's just miserable in the winter......so if you go there.....bring a jacket.
Miracles come out of nothing ... and go into even less.
Productive economic activity has multiple positive effects! Who knew?!
Somebody get this news into the paper so the the pResident will learn it!
And negative growth in new construction. Unemployed construction workers of America say, Howdy oil field workers.
so...cancel all our plans?
http://mtstandard.com/news/local/oil-boom-communities-in-critical-need-of-basic-infrastructure/article_57672cea-c9d3-51c9-843d-9d01b7fc4d4d.html
Great reporting. Thanks!
The shale and fracking jobs are a short-term, one-time-only, flash-in-the-pan jolt for industrial civilization.
They're not unlike an old junkie's last dime bag of smack.
Yeah....heard it about 20 years ago.
We're pretty close to cold fusion....don't tell anyone.
WTI has formed a contracting triangle, and is about to break the apex..
Large move coming over the Xmas break, likely to the downside ( continuation pattern).