Workforce Development

The Marcellus Shale is the largest unconventional natural gas formation in the United States. The Shale is estimated to hold 493 trillion cubic feet of extractable natural gas currently valued at more than $1.8 trillion. 

To safely extract the massive amount of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale will require a truly monumental workforce. Although Pennsylvania has a long history of work in the gas and oil patch, the fact remains the scope and scale of the new shale gas extraction significantly changes the workforce requirements.

The shale gas equipment is bigger, the pressures are higher, and the sheer quantity of equipment needed is much larger.

Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center (MSETC)

In an effort to help meet the new demand a partnership between Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Pennsylvania College of Technology has been developed around the newly created Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center (MSETC).

Early in the development of the MSETC a small grant funded a Marcellus Shale Direct Workforce Needs Assessment (www.msetc.org). The assessment found two issues of critical importance to the future of the development of the Marcellus Shale.

1. a massive number of workers will be needed
2. there are limited educational opportunities and in some cases organizations available to offer natural gas training.

The Assessment found more than 410 different individuals working in 150 different occupations are needed to complete each Marcellus well equaling approximately 11.53 full-time equivalent jobs during pre-drilling and drilling phases of development and .17 jobs in the production phase.

At the peak of the Barnett Shale Development in Texas 2,500-3,000 wells were drilled each year. Using the MSETC Direct Workforce Assessment approximately 28,825-34,590 direct full-time jobs would have been created for pre-drilling and drilling activities and 425-510 jobs each year for long term natural gas production.

In fact, if the number of drilling rigs in Pennsylvania approach 250 as was seen in the Barnett Shale, the 2000 Census estimate of industry employment for the category agriculture, forestry or mining could increase by as much as 63% in Pennsylvania over the next 5-years driven just by growth in natural gas extraction.