Data released by the Texas Workforce Commission indicates that upstream oil and natural gas employment grew in July by 6,800 jobs from June, the second highest monthly increase in data history.
Last month’s record-breaking job growth has been revised upward to 7,200 jobs gained. These gains break the previous record of 5,600 jobs added in June of 2011.
“Job growth in the Texas oil and natural gas industry is good news because these high-quality jobs support hundreds of thousands of Texas families and contribute directly to our nation’s energy security and our state’s economic might,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association.
Since the low point in employment September of 2020, industry has added 45,800 Texas upstream jobs, averaging growth of 2,082 jobs per month. At 202,800 upstream jobs, July 2022 jobs were up by 35,400, or 21.1%, from July 2021. July’s employment topped 200,000 jobs for the first time since March of 2020.
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.
