Oil and gas drilling, exploration, and production has never been greater than at this time, with absolutely no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Energy companies, in efforts to tap the Bakken Formation, an oil-bearing shale formation spread out along 200,000 square miles in the northern plains, are in great need of employees to fill all areas of their operational needs.
Employment in the ‘oil patch’ territory of northeastern Montana and western North Dakota is attracting workers from all throughout the region, even reaching national and global proportions. There are some tremendous incentives for job seekers to look to Montana’s oil and gas industry for great employment opportunities.
A few such incentives include, but are by no means limited to:
Tremendous Pay. The skyrocketing demand of workers to fill varied positions in the industry far exceeds the supply of available workers in the region. The result of this is a subsequent great increase in worker’s wages all across the board. Unskilled and skilled workers alike are reaping great benefits from this spike in wage earnings. According to the 2014 Treasure State Journal (The Economic & Fiscal Impacts of the Oil and Gas Industry in Montana): average pay in 2013 for extraction workers was $33,820; petroleum engineers were averaging $99,379. The average pay for Montana’s petroleum industry in 2013 was $66,599, two times the national average. Montana’s oil and gas industry contributed over 15,600 jobs in 2013, paying 2/3 more than the state average.
Companies need workers. As indicated before, supply of jobs in the industry far outnumbers available workers in the labor pool. In recent years, some areas in the oil patch region have realized that there are 5-10 jobs available for every employable person. This dearth of job opportunities has resulted in record low unemployment levels, far below the national average. It’s not an uncommon occurrence for a job seeker to go out seeking a job in the morning, get hired right away that day, and begin a very good paying job the very next day.
There is job security here. Critics pondered early on if this would be a “boom and bust” situation in the northern plains. This was years ago, and experts conclude that the “boom” is here, and here to stay. In fact, new oil fields are continuing to be discovered, with a plethora of companies moving in. This, of course, increases the available labor need exponentially. And, who knows? The recent push by more and more Americans wanting increased domestic oil production, getting further away from costly imported oil, could result in even greater emphasis on further exploration efforts in a broader range of territory, much of which is in this oil-rich region of the U.S. Increases in Montana oil jobs could be staggering; wages could go through the roof, and well beyond.