INSIGHT-N. American oil companies scramble to find workers despite boom
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But his next jobs brought one mishap after another. He was
hospitalized for almost a week following a shift at a chemical
manufacturing facility; another company he worked for never paid
him, leaving him short
"There comes a point and time where you also get extremely
frustrated with the unpredictability and (lack of) stability,"
said Davis, 38, who now works in construction closer to his home
and family near
Davis says he would be open to returning to energy, but for
now, he is one of thousands of workers in
Governments are pushing oil and gas producers to increase
output with prices hovering around
Oil workers left the industry in droves after the COVID-19 pandemic started. Now, the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.6%, just a hair above the pre-pandemic low, but there are still roughly 100,000 fewer oil and gas workers now in the country than before the pandemic.
Oil industry employment in
"At a job fair in a place like
His company may hire another 3,000 workers this year after
hiring back 3,000 in 2021, and even has recruiters set up at a
shopping mall in
HELP WANTED
Canadian producer Peyto Explorations and Development Corp
would drill more wells if they could staff more rigs,
said CEO
"We probably would increase the capital budget this year if we could get people," Gee said, adding that new workers often lack experience. He pointed to the University of Calgary's move to suspend its oil and gas engineering program last year as an example of why the industry is struggling for new talent.
Employment in the U.S. oilfield services and equipment
sector was nearly 609,000 in March, the highest since
"We hired 350. If we could hire another 350, we'd put them all to work," he said.
In the mining and logging industries, which includes oil and gas work, an estimated 14,000 workers quit in January, the highest level since early 2020, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 13,000 workers were estimated to have quit in February.
"We've had companies in the Permian that have gone out and
hired 100 new employees and within six months there's only eight
to nine original employees still working," said
U.S. and Canadian production is anticipated to grow even with a tight labor market, but executives said output could surpass expectations if more workers were available.
In
COMPETING WITH AMAZON
Fewer skilled workers are willing to travel to the remote
Canadian oil sands region for turnaround season, when thousands
are needed for essential maintenance on oil sands plants, said
Parker said oil sands labor rates ranged from
Unite Here, a union representing hospitality workers in
industry accommodation camps, negotiated agreements for better
overtime for workers at camps operated by Civeo Corp (CVEO) in
the oil sands, the union's Canadian director,
In March, the union also secured a wage increase of up to
22% for workers at an Atco Ltd (ACLLF) camp serving the long-delayed
In
In
However, average hourly wages in the U.S. oil and gas
extraction industry are still below pre-pandemic levels,
currently estimated at
Patterson-UTI raised wages last year because of competition from retailers that historically paid less than the oil industry, Hendricks said.
"We're competing against Amazon hiring drivers, or Target
with positions in air-conditioned warehouses. It's easier than a
drilling rig in west
(Reporting by