TIPRO Releases: Texas Oil and Natural Gas Industry Hiring and Workforce Trends Report

Austin, Texas – Today the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) published the next installment of its “Texas Oil and Natural Gas Industry Hiring and Workforce Trends Report.” The new study examines employment trends in the Texas upstream, midstream and downstream sectors for the months of November 2020 through January 2021, including industry job postings, desired skills and qualifications sought for applicants and other data as outlined in the report.

Despite the many challenges facing the Texas oil and natural gas industry in 2020, the sector has continued to provide significant economic support in Texas, accounting for 39 percent of all oil and gas employment in the nation. According to TIPRO’s 2021 State of Energy Report, the oil and gas industry supported a total of 347,529 direct jobs in Texas in 2020, a decrease of approximately 73,982 net jobs over the previous year. When factoring in the direct, indirect and induced multipliers for total oil and gas employment, the industry supported a total of 2.4 million positions last year. Direct oil and natural gas jobs held an average annual wage of $129,989 in Texas, which is 113 percent higher than average private sector wages in the state.

As outlined in TIPRO’s new workforce analysis, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) report, Texas upstream employment increased in the fourth quarter of 2020 by 1,600 jobs compared to last year’s third business quarter. Oil and natural gas extraction accounted for all the gains in the industry’s fourth quarter with an increase of 2,267 jobs, while service sector employment decreased by 667 jobs in the same timeframe, subject to revisions.

“As the Texas oil and natural gas sector continues to recover from a very difficult year, ensuring access to a qualified workforce will be essential to the future growth of the industry,” said Brent Hopkins, chairman of TIPRO and CEO of Suemaur Exploration & Production LLC. “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,” added Hopkins.

The extreme weather conditions in Texas this month have created additional challenges for oil and gas operators, but TIPRO expects the overall impact of the storms to be minimal with respect to hiring and commodity prices. TIPRO also notes the events that transpired last week are a painful lesson on the importance of having access to reliable energy for power generation and that without the massive ramp-up in natural gas generation that occurred the state would have faced far more dire circumstances.

“Texas isn’t lacking in energy resources, but we must have the ability to deliver that energy to households and businesses,” explained Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO. “Texas must ensure that we have adequate reserve power in place, bolster pipeline infrastructure and determine the right level of resilience to safeguard it against extreme weather events,” Longanecker concluded.

TIPRO added that a rebound in commodity prices, additional infrastructure projects and improving global energy demand will all result in employment growth for the Texas oil and gas industry. The organization said it will continue to support legislative and industry-led efforts to examine labor needs within oil and gas to identify workforce gaps.

Highlights from TIPRO’s latest energy report include:

• In November 2020 – January 2021, there were 63,409 total job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry, of which 9,275 were unique. 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.
• Unique job postings for the full Texas oil and natural gas industry increased in December (6,764) compared to November (6,559) and again in January (7,090) compared to the previous month, indicating an improving trend in available oil and natural gas employment opportunities in Texas.
• Unique job postings for the upstream sector also increased in December (2,775) compared to November (2,695) and again in January (2,898) compared to the previous month, yet again pointing to an improving trend in available employment opportunities in Texas.
• The top five industry sectors by unique job postings between November 2020 – January 2021 included: Petroleum Refineries (1,928), Crude Petroleum Extraction (1,605), Drilling Oil and Gas Wells (1,201), Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations (1,017), and Oil and Gas Field Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing (1,000).
• The top five cities where the employment opportunities were most concentrated for industry jobs included: Houston (2,946), Midland (512), Odessa (474), San Antonio (408) and Dallas (293).
• The top five qualifications for unique job postings included: Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) (594), Master of Business Administration (MBA) (203), Tanker Endorsement (166), Bachelor of Science in Business (145), and Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Card (136).
• 3,324 unique positions required a Bachelor’s Degree, 3,310 positions required a High School Diploma or GED, 825 positions required an Associate’s Degree, 700 required a Master’s Degree and 193 required a Ph.D. or Professional Degree. 2,731 unique postings had no formal education requirement listed.

TIPRO’s “Texas Oil and Natural Gas Industry Hiring and Workforce Trends Report” is available for download at: https://bit.ly/37K8mFS.

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.