"The oil and gas industry would rather pay shareholders than workers,"
The report points out that the 7% drop in oil and gas employment from 2020 to 2021—which was down 37% from a 2014 peak—aligned with a 33% jump in production. In other words,"in 2021, each job in the oil and gas industry was associated with the equivalent of 22,894 barrels of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids production, compared to 10,777 barrels per job in 2014."
The analysis further explains how the fossil fuel industry inflates job figures, highlighting the conflation between direct and indirect or induced jobs—the latter of which"account for nearly 75% of the top-line numbers that some oil and gas companies are referencing." The report detailed some specific conditions in California, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania.