Who benefits from local oil and gas employment? Labor market composition in the oil and gas industry in Texas and the rest of the United States

Abstract

This paper examines local labor market outcomes from an oil and gas boom. We examine two main outcomes; the probability of employment and the log wages of workers employed outside the oil and gas industry for Texas and the rest of the United States across gender, race, and ethnicity. We find that men and women gain employment in the oil and gas industry during booms, but such gains are much larger for men and are largest for black and Hispanic men. We also find positive income spillovers for workers in other industries that are similar in magnitude across demographic groups.