Texas Is Making An Energy Recovery
In the midst of the shale boom in 2013, Texas added more than 19,000 new jobs in the oil and gas production sector, leading the U.S. job increase in the industry by a wide margin. But back then, global oil prices were stable all year around at US$100 and slightly more.
Crude prices have crashed since 2014—now barely clinging on to above US$50—effectively stagnating drilling activity and oil jobs growth.
Texas, for its part, has shed over 91,000 jobs in oil and gas industry since the end of 2014, with the Houston area economy on the cusp of a recession, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
However, the most recent non-farm job numbers and Dallas Fed’s higher employment forecasts suggest that Texas will be gaining 138,200 jobs this year.
What’s more, the Dallas Fed has said that signs of recovery have emerged in the U.S. oil market, most notably in the Permian. The Dallas Fed also noted that Texas’s oil and gas employment increased in August—a first since 2014—suggesting that the worst of the energy crisis may be over.