TAKEN FROM: 

Marcellus Shale Workforce Needs Assessment

June 2009

Needs assessment conducted by:

Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center (MSETC)

Funding for this project was provided by (in alphabetical order):

Pennsylvania College of Technology

Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (Industry Partnership Funding through the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corporation and the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission)

Penn State Cooperative Extension

An analysis of the data using the MSETC workforce projection model indicates that the direct workforce needed to drill a single well in the Marcellus Shale region is comprised of over 410 individuals working within nearly 150 different occupations. The total hours worked by these individuals are the equivalent of 11.53 full‐time, direct jobs over the course of a year. (The industry definition of a full-time equivalent is based on working 260 days [or 2,080 hours] a year.) Unfortunately, the vast majority of these "drilling phase" jobs do not compound each year; thus, the total workforce may increase or decrease depending on how many wells are drilled each year. Potential increases (or decreases) were calculated using a baseline rate of 11.53 jobs per well drilled. It is important to note that more than 98% of these jobs are required only while wells are being drilled. In addition, since the workplace location and residency of these workers will depend on a multitude of factors and will likely change over time, it is impossible to predict the impact of workforce needs for any one specific location.

By comparison, 0.17 long-term, full-time "permanent" jobs associated with the production phase of development are created for each well drilled in a given field. While comprising a very small percentage of the overall workforce, these long-term jobs do compound each and every year as more wells are drilled. For example, if 100 wells were drilled each year for ten years, 17 production jobs would be created each year. If that rate of development were to continue, then a total of 170 production jobs would be created after 10 years. Most of these workers would be based at company offices near the well locations.