Two Drilling Counties Lead The Nation In Job Growth

Scott Detrow / StateImpactPA

A Brad­ford County drilling rig

The drilling hotbed of Wash­ing­ton County saw a 4.3 per­cent increase in employ­ment, between March 2010 and March 2011. That’s the third-highest spike in the coun­try, accord­ing to data released today by the fed­eral Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But­ler County fol­lows close behind, with a 4.2 per­cent increase. That’s good for sixth, nationally.

Both coun­ties are among the most active in the state, when it comes to Mar­cel­lus Shale drilling. Nearly 80 new wells were drilled in Wash­ing­ton County between Jan­u­ary and July 2011, accord­ing to Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion data included in the Mar­cel­lus Shale Advi­sory Commission’s report. More than 20 were tapped in Butler.