Data Spotlight: U.S. Losing Jobs Up And Down Domestic Energy Supply Chain

As Morning Consult reported last week, a new study by the Western Energy Alliance has found that employment in the oil and natural gas exploration and production sector has declined by 33.5 percent in a single year. In 2015, the sector was responsible for 177,058 jobs, down from 266,442 jobs in 2014. (These figures do not reflect employment only at oil and natural gas firms, but “include the industry’s direct, supplier and induced impact.”) 

As the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) points out in its policy agenda, the North American metals industry requires a reliable energy supply to succeed and thrive. Lower, more stable energy prices make U.S. manufacturers more competitive with their foreign counterparts and lead to more employment opportunities, higher incomes, and better benefits for U.S. workers. As proud stewards of the nation’s natural resources, MSCI supports policies that protect our environment and provide a stable energy supply. MSCI believes today’s innovative technologies allow the United States to explore and produce energy from all sources—coal, nuclear, oil and gas, and renewables like wind and solar—in an increasingly environmentally friendly way. Prosperity breeds the creation of new, cleaner and less wasteful technologies and strengthens the demand for them. Policies that fuel growth, rather than reactionary and impractical regulations and taxes, are the path to a cleaner, safer environment. As such, MSCI supports an “all of the above” energy strategy that protects our energy security by expanding domestic energy production to efficiently and affordably deliver power to our nation’s industrial metals industry. 

To learn more about the energy supply chain, and its importance to in all industries, including the metals sector, MSCI encourages its members to visit the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance’s website and to sign up to receive periodic alerts and economic analyses. MSCI is a member of this alliance, which has argued, “Two things are clear for suppliers of construction, equipment, materials and services to energy operations. First, without new pipeline capacity, business driven by production from new wells … will be limited under current price levels. Second, opposition [to production] presents major risk to otherwise tremendous supply opportunities for construction and operation of proposed new pipeline projects themselves.”