As January has drawn to a close and the industry rolls into February, it just may be that Oil & Gas jobs are looking to improve every month.
Recent data as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistic indicated that mining employment effectively went unchanged in January of 2017. This represent the 5th straight month where mining was steady.
Better still, jobs specific to oil and gas extraction increased by 100 in January.
Increases in Support Jobs
Additionally, oilfield support related jobs increased by over 3000 jobs. To be certain, this is in stark contrast to the devastating losses our industry has seen in the previous 30 months, where hundreds of thousands were laid off globally due to severely depressed oil prices and subsequent cuts.
Driving Factors
Most economists and industry experts content that these increases are also in alignment with recent production cuts from OPEC and non-OPEC members, driving oil to the mid 50's per barrel.
Drilling in the Permian Basin and West Texas has increased dramatically with these increases in prices, creating hundreds of new jobs
Better Days Ahead
Karr Ingham, chief economist at TAEP was quoted as saying "This is the moment we've been waiting for...It's been a bloodbath, frankly, but better days are ahead in 2017 after two years of sharp contraction, job losses, and downward pressure on the statewide and regional economies of Texas."
