Data released by the Texas Workforce Commission indicates that upstream oil and natural gas employment grew in August by 2,600 jobs from July.
July’s gains were revised down to a still-solid 3,100 jobs added.
“Upstream employment is growing steadily alongside the world’s demand for affordable, reliable energy. The Texas oil and natural gas industry continues to play its leadership role in enhancing national and energy security in our nation and for our trade allies around the world,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association.
Since the low point in employment September of 2020, industry has added 44,700 Texas upstream jobs, averaging growth of 1,943 jobs per month. At 201,700 upstream jobs, August 2022 jobs were up by 33,400, or 19.8%, from August 2021. August’s employment was the first time to break the 200,000 mark since March of 2020, in light of the new revision in the July 2022 job numbers.
The upstream sector involves oil and natural gas extraction and excludes other industry sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities, which support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs in Texas. The employment shown also includes “Support Activities for Mining,” which is mostly oil and gas-related but also includes some small amount of other types of mining.
