How Many US Oil Jobs Were Lost in 2020?

According to the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association’s (TIPRO) latest state of energy report, the U.S. oil and gas industry employed 902,223 professionals in 2020.

That represented a net decline of 160,323 direct jobs compared to 2019, according to the report, which highlighted that last year marked an end to two years of consecutive employment growth for the U.S. oil and natural gas sector. There were said to be 359,410 direct U.S. upstream sector jobs last year, which marked a net decline of 112,348 jobs compared to 2019.

TIPRO’s latest report outlined that the declining job figures illustrated the “extreme market volatility” resulting from “various challenges”. The economic shutdown and global demand destruction caused by Covid-19 were touted as two of the most notable drivers.

In 2020, 20 percent of the direct U.S. oil and gas workforce were females and 23 percent of jobs were held by individuals between the ages of 25 and 34, 26 percent were between 35 and 44, 21 percent were between 45 and 54, 18 percent were between 55 and 64, and four percent were 65 or older, the report shows.

The oil and gas industry was said to have paid a national average wage of $113,601 in 2020, which TIPRO highlighted was 86 percent higher than the average private sector wage in the U.S. Workers in oil and natural gas extraction earned the highest annual average wage of all oil and gas industry sectors at $183,625, followed by petroleum refineries ($144,690), pipeline transportation of natural gas ($138,592) and pipeline transportation of refined products ($136,247), TIPRO revealed.

TIPRO describes itself as one of the oldest and largest oil and natural gas advocacy non-profit organizations in the state of Texas. The organization’s nearly 3,000 members include small family-owned oil and gas businesses and the largest publicly traded independent producers, in addition to large and small mineral estates and trusts, the organization’s website notes.

According to the International Energy Agency’s January 2021 oil market report, global oil demand collapsed 8.8 million barrels per day last year. Demand is expected to recover by 5.5 million barrels per day to 96.6 million barrels per day in 2021, the IEA highlighted.

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