Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – New data from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) indicate that upstream oil and natural gas employment grew by 2,500 in January 2025 compared to December 2024. This is growth on top of TWC’s just-released upward revisions for 2024.
For example, December 2024 employment is now estimated at 200,900 – whereas the original estimate was 195,500.
“As geopolitical circumstances continue to evolve and domestic policy is being examined, the Texas oil and natural gas industry started the year off with positive job growth – which is a reminder of the important role played by this critical industry in providing energy security across the globe,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA,) the oldest and largest oil and gas trade association in Texas which represents every facet of the industry.Since the COVID-low point of September of 2020, the industry has added 46,400 Texas upstream jobs, averaging growth of 892 jobs per month.
During the same time, months with upstream oil and gas employment increases have outnumbered those with decrease by 37 to 14. These jobs pay among the highest wages in Texas, with employers in oil and natural gas paying an average salary of approximately $128,000 in 2024.
The upstream sector involves oil and natural gas extraction and excludes other industry sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities, which support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs across Texas.
The employment shown also includes “Support Activities for Mining,” which is mostly oil and gas-related but also includes some small amount of other types of mining.
