Texas continued so as to add oil and gas jobs in December despite a weakening world economic system, signaling confidence amongst vitality producers that demand would keep robust.
The oil and gas extraction and exploration sector added greater than 1,500 jobs in December, with whole employment reaching almost 195,600, in keeping with seasonally adjusted knowledge launched Friday by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. Employment in the upstream oil and gas sector, because it’s known as, jumped almost 13 p.c year-over-year from round 173,500 the yr earlier.
“It is encouraging to see upstream employment end the year on a positive note,” Texas Oil and Gas Association President Todd Staples mentioned in an announcement, “particularly as jobs seem to be contracting in the high-tech industry.”
The rising numbers mirror regular funding in manufacturing by the vitality trade despite a darkening financial backdrop. Still, the comparatively low variety of oil and gas jobs displays an advanced, altering panorama the place producers proceed to face shortages and new challenges associated to the vitality transition as quickly evolving expertise allows them to drag oil from the bottom extra effectively.
The sector added greater than 22,000 jobs in Texas final yr — a quantity that stacks up effectively in comparison with the expansion seen in 2017-18, mentioned Karr Ingham, a petroleum economist for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. Still, employment has not recovered to pre-pandemic ranges, when the sector employed greater than 240,000 individuals in Texas.
Supply chain and labor shortages have hampered the trade’s capability to get well, Ingham mentioned.
“The industry would be adding jobs faster if there were employees to add back,” he mentioned, including that the trade might get well one other 20,000 to 25,000 jobs this yr if circumstances had been favorable.Â
The oil and gas extraction and exploration sector has grown steadily because the trade’s job numbers hit lows in September 2020, including 54,200 jobs in the greater than two years which have elapsed, in keeping with the Texas Oil and Gas Association. These jobs are among the many highest-paying in Texas, the affiliation mentioned, noting a median annual wage of round $109,000.Â
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