New TIPRO Report Details Workforce Trends for the Texas Oil & Natural Gas Industry

Austin, Texas – The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) today published the latest installment of its “Texas Oil & Natural Gas Industry Hiring and Workforce Trends Report.” The new TIPRO analysis examines employment trends in the Texas upstream, midstream and downstream sectors for the months of September and October 2020, including job postings, desired skills, qualifications, education and professional experience for applicants. Information collected by TIPRO in its report is utilized to advance legislative, regulatory, educational and workforce-related initiatives for the benefit of the oil and natural gas industry and the Texas economy.

“Despite an unprecedented array of challenges facing the Texas oil and natural gas industry this year, the sector continued to provide significant economic support to the state and will continue to do so for decades to come,” said Brent Hopkins, chairman of TIPRO and CEO of Suemaur Energy. “As the industry continues to recover, ensuring access to a qualified workforce will be essential to its future, as the industry will have to overcome two significant hurdles from an employment perspective. First, the combination of an ill-conceived price war followed by the market destruction of the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a large number of the baby boomer generation out of the industry, many of which will not return, thus expediting the ‘great crew change’ that was already underway. Secondly, the perception of a hydrocarbon-free future has driven enrollment at the university level in disciplines critical to our industry to new lows. Just to recover to the levels of production Texas achieved at the end of 2019 will require a lot of additional manpower, and more importantly grey matter,” added Hopkins.

As referenced in the new TIPRO report, according to the Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), after six consecutive months of employment decline in the Texas upstream sector this year, employment rose by approximately 1,500 jobs in September of this year compared to the previous month, followed by another gain of 600 positions in October compared to September. This corresponds with a slight uptick in the Texas rig count and improving global demand for oil and natural gas.

In September and October of 2020, there were 58,280 total job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry, of which 7,917 were unique, according to data collected by TIPRO. These numbers extended a posting intensity of 7-to-1, meaning that for every seven postings, there was one unique job listing. This was close to the posting intensity for all other occupations and companies in the state (6-to-1), indicating average effort toward hiring for these positions. Meanwhile, there were 26,922 total job postings for the Texas upstream sector from September to October, of which 3,429 were unique. These numbers show a posting intensity of 8-to-1. This is higher than the posting intensity for all other occupations and companies in the region (6-to-1), typically indicating that employers may be trying harder to hire for positions in this sector.

“As the state’s leading association representing independent producers and royalty owners, TIPRO will continue to support legislative and industry-led efforts to examine labor needs within oil and gas to identify workforce gaps and the resulting effects on industry expansion post-COVID-19, economic growth, and increasing population,” said TIPRO’s President Ed Longanecker. “Our work is also intended to identify other challenges facing employers and how we can effectively overcome those issues through collaboration, funding and training at the local and state levels to prepare, attract and retain talent. TIPRO focuses on workforce development efforts by promoting existing training programs, facilities and related resources, and working with the Texas legislature and state agencies to advance policy initiatives that will help support long-term workforce needs. With the right policies in place, Texas can prepare the workforce of the future to allow the continued success of the oil and gas industry and other key sectors in the state that heavily rely on it,” affirmed Longanecker.

Other highlights from TIPRO’s employment analysis include:

• The top five industry sectors by unique job postings included: Petroleum Refineries (1,608), Crude Petroleum Extraction (1,605), Oil and Gas Field Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing (991), Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations (936), and Drilling Oil and Gas Wells (866).
• The top five cities where the employment opportunities were most concentrated for industry jobs included: Houston (2,571), San Antonio (386), Midland (377), Odessa (360) and Dallas (244).
• The top five hard skills for unique job positing included: Oil and Gas (964), Accounting (807), Auditing (798), Personal Protective Equipment (667), and Merchandising (627).
• The top five common skills for unique job postings included: Communications (3,354), Operations (2,705), Management (2,287), Customer Service (1,803) and Sales (1,682).
• The top five qualifications for unique job postings included: Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) (351), Master Of Business Administration (MBA) (158), Bachelor of Science in Business (135), Tanker Endorsement (115), and Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Card (107).
• 2,924 unique positions required a Bachelor’s Degree, 2,771 positions required a high school diploma or GED, 672 positions required an Associate’s Degree, 571 Master’s Degree and 162 Ph.D. or Professional Degree.
• 3,130 unique positions posted no prior experience required, followed by 1,822 with 2-3 years, 1,391 with 4-6 years, 943 with 0-1 years, 322 with 7-9 years, and 309 with 10+ years of experience required.
• Unique Texas oil and gas job postings declined by 4,640 between January and October 2020.

See TIPRO’s complete workforce analysis by visiting www.bit.ly/TIPRO_Workforce_Report_December2020.

For additional information on industry wages, employment figures, and other oil and gas insights, also be sure to check out the ‘TIPRO’s Reports’ section on the association’s website at: http://tipro.org/newsroom/tipro-energy-reports.

About TIPRO

The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) is a trade association representing the interests of nearly 3,000 independent oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners throughout Texas. As one of the nation’s largest statewide associations representing both independent producers and royalty owners, members include small businesses, the largest, publicly-traded independent producers, and mineral owners, estates, and trusts.