Some are hot, some are cold. A special look at employment in oil and gas exploration and mining.
Written by Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
In the December jobs data on Friday, we saw what we had come to expect from an economy that was going well, and we saw that wage increases have reheated again over the past few months, despite the Fed’s 5.5% interest rates. But not all industries are in the same boat. In some industries, employment has reached new highs, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In other countries, such as the information sector, employment has fallen sharply since mid-2022, but has begun to rise again in recent months. In other industries, employment is experiencing a long-term decline due to structural changes. Then there are jobs in federal, state, and local governments that we’ll take a closer look at.
Month-to-month changes are expressed in three-month moving averages (3MMA) which smooth out monthly fluctuations that are simply noise.
Categories by workplace. Surveys are sent to business facilities by address. The primary activity in that facility is what defines the category. Just to be clear: a worker at an Amazon fulfillment center counts toward “moving and warehousing”; A driver working out of an Amazon delivery center is also considered “moving and warehousing”; A worker at one of Amazon’s AWS division offices will be counted under “Professional and Business Services”; A worker in a position that handles the retail aspects of Amazon’s business will count toward “retail”; An office worker who works primarily on the software aspects of Amazon’s e-commerce business may count as “information.”
private sector.
buildingAll types of construction, from single-family residences to highways. Employment rose to an all-time high two years ago. The construction industry also has a record number of job opportunities.
- Total employment: 8.06 million, a new all-time high
- 3MMA growth: +17000
Oil and gas extraction It’s fun. First, a word about the boom in fracking that we at Wolf Street have followed with fascination since our inception in 2011.
The United States has become the world’s largest oil and gas producer. Due to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, first-line natural gas production grew from an all-time high to an all-time high, turning the United States into the world’s largest natural gas producer, exporting large quantities via LNG terminals and pipelines.
Oil production then rose from an all-time high to an all-time high, turning the United States into the world’s largest oil producer. The United States has become a net exporter of oil and petroleum products.
Relentless technical innovation, driven by the dire economics of early hydraulic fracturing, has made the hydraulic fracturing process vastly more productive and cost-effective – including labor costs. Okay let’s go.
Oil and gas extraction workers are people who actually work in the oil field, not engineers, programmers, specialists, lawyers, administrators and others in offices and other facilities. Thus, the employment rate in the oil field decreased due to technical innovation despite the historical boom in oil and gas production, and the number of actual workers in the oil field became small:
- Total employment: 119,000
- 3mm: +0
Mining, excluding oil and gas: There was also innovation and automation. But coal mining descended into chaos when the price of natural gas collapsed in 2009 due to the fracking boom.
Regarding coal mining, approximately two-thirds of production comes from surface mines, and one-third from underground mines (EIA data). Total production peaked in 2008. By 2009, the nascent hydraulic fracturing boom had caused natural gas prices to collapse, and with combined cycle natural gas power plants with thermal efficiencies of over 60%, natural gas had become much cheaper to generate electricity than coal. . . Power generators sent more generation to their natural gas plants and built combined cycle natural gas plants while older coal plants were retired in droves. In recent years, falling costs for wind and solar power have led power generators to shift more of their generation away from coal, and demand for coal for power generation has declined.
From 2008 to 2020, coal production fell by 54%. But in 2021 and 2022, coal production increased by 11% thanks to increased exports, driven by metallurgical coal.
In the mining sector overall, in all types of mines and quarries, employment has increased sharply from its low in 2020. But since 2008, employment is still down 17%.
- Total employment: 188,000 – the highest since late 2019.
- 3MMA 1000
Health care and social assistance:
- Total employment: 21.9 million, a new all-time high
- 3MMA: +74,000
manufacturing: Employment was stable throughout the year, except for the period of strikes in the auto industry in October, when employment declined and then returned to stability.
- Total employment: 13.0 million
- 3MMA: -2,000
- 6 MMA: +1000
Wholesale trade:
- Total employment: 6.1 million, a new all-time high
- 3MMA: +6,000
Arts, entertainment and entertainment Includes spectator sports, performing arts, amusement, gambling, recreation, museums, historical sites, and the like:
- Total employment: 2.5 million, a new all-time high
- 3MMA growth: +11000
Financial activities (Finance and insurance, in addition to real estate leasing, leasing, selling, purchasing and management). Employment peaked in August and September, and has since tapered off slightly.
Mortgage lending employment has taken a huge hit since 2021 when mortgage rates started rising, refinancing volume, a big part of the business, collapsed, and mortgage purchase volume declined.
- Total employment: 9.15 million
- 3-Mixed martial arts growth: -2,000
Entertainment and hospitality – Restaurants, accommodation, resorts, etc.
- Total employment: 16.8 million, which is close to pre-pandemic levels.
- 3MMA growth: +26,000
“Information,” A small sector includes business websites for some technology and social media companies. Other technology company job sites are included in Professional and Business Services (below), or other categories.
Information includes facilities where people work primarily on web search portals, data processing, data transmission, information services, software publishing, motion picture and sound recording, broadcasting including over the Internet, and telecommunications.
- Total employment: 3.05 million
- 3MMA growth: +6,000
Professional and business services. The largest sector in terms of employment. It includes facilities for some technology and social media companies; Others are in “Information” (above) or in other categories.
The category includes establishments whose employees are primarily engaged in professional, scientific, and technical services; Management of companies and institutions. Administrative services, support, waste management and treatment.
- Total employment: 22.95 million
- 3MMA Growth: -11,000
Retail trade Includes workers in retail stores—malls, auto dealers, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.—and other retail locations such as markets. It does not include technology-related jobs for e-commerce operations, drivers, and warehouse employees. A large portion of this sector has come under intense pressure from e-commerce operations:
- Total employment: 15.5 million
- 3MMA growth: +3000
Transportation and storage: You can see the decline after the huge boom in 2021 and 2022:
- Total employment: 6.6 million
- 3MMA growth: -19,000
Jobs in government.
First, we’ll look at total government jobs — federal, state, and local — as a percentage of total employment. Some things to note:
- Increases occur every 10 years in federal jobs when the census is taken.
- When total employment collapsed in early 2020, government employment did not collapse as much, and the ratio of government jobs to total collapsed jobs briefly rose.
- The majority of local government jobs and a portion of state jobs are in education, from preschool to public universities, and include community colleges, trade schools, etc.
Federal government civilian employment: Increases occur every 10 years when the census is conducted.
- Total civilian employment: 2.96 million
- 3MMA growth: +5000
Federal employment as a percentage of total employment (1.9% in December):
Federal employment in millions of employees:
State governments (Includes education, as in public universities).
- Total employment: 5.3 million
- 3MMA: +13,000
Local governments – Education dominates employment. After schools closed, districts experienced significant teacher shortages. Employment is finally back to what it was before the pandemic.
- Total employment: 14.7 million
- 3MMA growth: +32,000
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