The Jobs That Come With Drilling

The Tribune-Review takes a look at some of the jobs natural gas drilling is creating:

From 2000 to 2007, the state recorded 17,000 to 20,000 workers in mining and logging, Department of Labor records show. That has jumped by more than 50 percent, largely since May 2009. More than 33,000 Pennsylvanians worked in that sector as of November.
About 1,000 of those jobs are in Washington County, where average annual salaries in the sector climbed from about $60,000 through most of the decade to $82,400 in 2010, the most recent statistics available. The county also added jobs in professional and business services, construction, leisure and hospitality, trade and transportation, and finance; industry- and state-funded economic studies link some of that job growth to the drilling industry.
Butler County surpassed several counties in drilling permits, largely because gas there can contain propane and other hydrocarbons, which can increase its price.
…Rex Energy Corp. intends to ramp up production, and one of its joint ventures, Keystone Midstream Services LLC, plans to open a processing plant in Jackson in spring. The company will need 120 construction workers for the site and 30 to build a pipeline, said Michael Brinkmeyer, Keystone’s general manager. It has four other projects pending.

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