Study says Canadian upstream development will contribute US$45.6 billion in American gross state product, resulting in 406,000 jobs from goods and services supplied by United States firms to Canada.

Both Canada and the USA benefit from Canadian oil and gas industry investment and operations, says a new study by the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI).

For every direct job created in the Canadian oil and gas sector, two indirect and three induced jobs in other sectors are created in Canada on average, according to the report, while for every C$1 million invested and generated in the Canadian oil and gas sector, the Canadian GDP impact is C$1.2 million.

The study projects Canadian upstream development industry will contribute US$45.6 billion in American gross state product, resulting in 406,000 jobs from goods and services supplied by United States firms to Canada.

While total employment impacts from all Canadian oil and gas development will be seen in every province and territory, the largest labour impact will be felt in Alberta (4.17 million person-years). However, companies that supply goods and services, such as machinery, manufacturing, trade, legal, environmental, financial services, often located outside of Alberta, will also benefit, says CERI.

The available oil and gas labour force may be shrinking as some unemployed are no longer targeting that sector for work, which could be of concern to the industry. If there is a recovery in Q3 or Q4, then attracting these workers back when they are already settled in other industries or are no longer pursuing jobs in oil and gas would be a difficult task.

According to Statistics Canada’s July labour force survey, in Canada there were approximately 98,000 people employed in oil and gas extraction last month, which is up 5.9 percent from June 2017 and up 23.4 percent from July 2016. Most oil and gas extraction jobs were in Alberta last month, at 81,400, which is up 6.3 percent from June 2017 and up 28.6 percent from July of last year.

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