This week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced the spike in natural gas–related employment around the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays in the eastern part of the state. One official added that the average wage was at $75,000 in core fracking industries, which include well drilling and pipeline construction.
But an earlier report by the left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio has called many claims about shale drilling’s job creation potential “exaggerated.”
“It’s sorta what I call `fracking fever’,” says Amanda Woodrum, She's an energy researcher for Policy Matters Ohio, who suggests percentages can be misleading.
"Right now in Ohio, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of total employment is in the shale industry. That’s pretty small. But it doesn’t mean the industry isn’t worth developing, but it means we need to take a close look at both the costs and the benefits, and get a better handle on it.”
Woodrum says one unanswered question is just how many jobs in shale drilling are actually going to local workers, and how many are going to workers who relocate to Ohio temporarily.