The oil and gas industry has largely ignored the stall in hiring that has harmed the United States over the past years, with Texas adding more than 2,000 positions in the second quarter of 2013 and overall jobs in the country increasing by two-fifths.
Second quarter numbers saw 2,400 energy jobs added by the state of Texas, marking a 2 percent hiring jump, contrary to the overall job growth nationwide, according to FuelFix. Texas now produces more than 74 million barrels of crude oil every month, about one-third of total United States production currently.
From the start of 2007 to the end of 2012, employment in the overall oil and natural gas industry rose 40 percent to add more than 162,000 total positions to its ranks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Employment in the sector saw large growth in three key sections – drilling saw an increase of 6,600 jobs in the past five years, while extraction positions grew by 53,000 and support activities resulted in more than 100,000 jobs added to the industry. In comparison, all private sector employment in the same time frame only increased by about 1 percent.