Pennsylvania natural gas production second after Texas, 31k people in PA have jobs related to extracting natural gas, Almost double five years ago level

From NPR April 13, 2015.

“Good paying jobs are exactly what many were hoping for when the drilling boom came to Pennsylvania, says Katie McGinty, chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA).

“Pennsylvania has gone from pretty much nowhere on the map in terms of natural gas production to now second in the country behind only Texas,” says McGinty.

When drilling rigs started showing up, McGinty says residents worried the good jobs would go to out-of-state workers, leaving locals with nothing but the environmental consequences of drilling.

“In the early days, those concerns were exacerbated by too many people seeing nothing but Texas and Oklahoma license plates,” says McGinty. That’s changing, she says, as more locals learn the skills necessary to work in the gas business.

The latest figures show more than 31,000 people in the state have jobs related to extracting natural gas. That’s nearly double what it was five years ago. State officials say the rate of employment growth in the gas fields has slowed recently, but for now it’s still growing.”

 
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