Texas added energy jobs in November for the first time since Dec. 2014, when employment peaked during the oil boom and quickly fell as oil prices plunged.
Overall, Texas’ oil and gas industry has entered a recovery, as rig counts, oil prices and drilling permits rise, said Karr Ingham, an economist who compiles the Texas Petro Index, a mix of numbers that measure the health of Texas energy economy.
But while the state of energy industry is improving, Ingham said, the recovery is likely to be long and slow. While the the November job gains are auspicious, they don’t begin to offset the tens of thousands of jobs lost during the downturn.
“Essentially, all we’ve done is stop bleeding at this point,” Ingham said .”But at least we aren’t continuing to bleed.”
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