The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has corrected “glaring errors” in the way it counts jobs related to gas drilling and drastically revised downward the number by 160,000 jobs. Instead of the 200,000 to 339,000 jobs the industry claims it has created, Labor and Industry now counts around 90,000 gas drilling jobs in Pennsylvania, with 30,000 of those in core drilling industries.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has corrected “glaring errors” in the way it counts jobs related to gas drilling and drastically revised downward the number by 160,000 jobs. Instead of the 200,000 to 339,000 jobs the industry claims it has created, Labor and Industry now counts around 90,000 gas drilling jobs in Pennsylvania, with 30,000 of those in core drilling industries.
This is not news to us. Our research repeatedly has shown that the industry’s exaggerated job claims could not be supported. As we’ve found, the industry’s jobs’ balloon was filled with workers who have nothing to do with gas drilling. For example, Labor and Industry’ inflated numbers included every road construction worker, truck driver and steelworker in the state, even if those jobs had nothing to do with gas drilling. Drilling jobs, in fact, make up less than one percent of all Pennsylvania jobs.
A look at county unemployment rates also reveals that gas drilling is not the super-charged jobs engine the industry claims it is. Generally, counties without any drilling had lower unemployment rates in March than counties with substantial drilling activity. Tioga County’s unemployment rate was above 6 percent while Perry County’s stood at 4.5 percent.
The gas industry is supporting a substantial number of jobs. But with major policy questions on the table — like whether to enact a severance tax on gas extraction — decision-makers need real numbers, not an inflated industry jobs’ balloon. There never were 200,000 shale jobs in Pennsylvania.