The record jobs added in May brought the total upstream oil and natural gas job count in Texas to over 200,000 employed in the industry for the first time in over three years. Last month’s more than 206,000 upstream jobs was an increase of 22,700, or 12.4%, from May 2022, according to the data.
While Texas leads the U.S. with job creation, it also has the most active unique job postings available in the industry of over 13,700, more than six times more jobs available compared to neighboring Oklahoma or Louisiana, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association said in an analysis of the jobs data.
He also pointed to state lawmakers advancing a policy agenda that supports “the continued success of our industry and its unmatched contributions.” In addition to contributing the lion's share of money to fund public education and transportation, Texas energy producers paid $497 million in oil production taxes and natural gas producers paid nearly $200 million last month.
In the first half of 2022, the U.S. became the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, led by Texas.