Natural Gas Exxposed: Jobs

Natural Gas is a Job-Killer, Not a Job-Creator

• Jobs Claims Vastly Overstated: A study from the nonpartisan Keystone Research Center found that the gas industry overstated job creation in Pennsylvania by a whopping 2,470 percent! Industry trade groups claimed that gas industry created 140,000 jobs, but the Keystone study found that just 5,669 were created—without taking into account losses in other industries like agriculture and tourism.

• Gas Drilling Employs Out-Of-State Workers: Most of the few jobs that are “created” are for transient workers who are shipped in and then move away again when the gas runs dry. 

• In the End, More Jobs Lost Than Created: Research from Cornell University found that, due to losses in industries like agriculture and tourism, communities with gas drilling were worse off in the long run and actually lost jobs. Gas drilling creates a boom and bust cycle that steamrolls over local economies. The area is left worse off than it was before the boom, especially when you consider the lasting toxic legacy, increased health costs, destroyed property values—the integrity of the land and the way of life is lost forever.

• Communities Lose, Industry Profits: Other negative effects of gas drilling include destroyed home values, burdened municipal services, increased crime and demand for emergency services, and increased costs to taxpayers.