US Oil Jobs Are Down 40% in Past Decade and Aren’t Coming Back

The US oil and gas industry slashed 40% of its workforce over the past decade of record-breaking production — and those jobs are unlikely to return.

In an industry known for its booms and busts, higher oil prices have historically spurred greater drilling activity, and therefore more hiring. But this link broke after years of poor returns to investors following the bursting of the shale bubble in the mid-2010s.

New technologies to drill faster for cheaper, corporate mergers and robots replacing humans on rigs resulted in the disappearance of some 250,000 jobs since the sector’s employment peaked in 2014. Production surged 50% during that time.