Texas oil and gas employment drops in July

Oil and gas employment in the upstream sector in Texas declined by 1,200 jobs between June 2026 and July 2026, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) said last week. TIPRO cited figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) report.

According to these figures, this represents a month-on-month (m/m) decline of 300 jobs in oil and gas extraction, down from 62,800, and an m/m decline of 900 jobs in the service sector, down from 133,000. The figures remain subject to revisions.

TIPRO noted, however, that while it saw a decline in upstream oil and gas jobs in Texas compared with the previous month, data from the two most recent months pointed to a weakening trend. The association cited figures showing that employment had risen from 192,400 jobs in January to a peak of 197,300 in May, before declining for two consecutive months to 195,800 in July. Over the course of those two months, this represented a drop of 1,500 jobs, or 0.8%, from the May peak, TIPRO said. However, it added that when measured against January, upstream employment was still up by 3,400 jobs, or 1.8%, for the year.

The association went on to say that the net gain reflected a “much larger” increase of 5,800 jobs posted from a February low of 191,500 to the May peak of 197,300, following a decline of 900 jobs in February.

The organisation went on to say that month-to-month fluctuation of this kind was common in upstream employment data over the course of a year.

TIPRO also noted that the June figure had initially been reported as a 400-job increase but had since been revised to reflect a 300-job decline from May to June. In addition, June and July are the first two months of the year to show a trend of consecutive declines in Texas oil and gas jobs. TIPRO said this raised the question of whether the spring hiring surge had run its course amid “elevated but volatile” oil prices connected to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, or whether it reflected a shorter-term pause before renewed growth would be seen. The association said it believes the latter option to be more likely and pointed to “continued strength in upstream job postings as a signal that employment growth will resume”.

Indeed, TIPRO said that according to its workforce analysis, there were 10,951 unique industry job postings in Texas over the course of July, and 4,363 new job postings added during that month. The association reported a total of 69,755 unique job postings within the oil and gas industry across the US over the course of July, including 27,562 new postings. Texas accounted for the largest share for July, followed by Pennsylvania with 3,404 unique job postings, California with 3,278 postings, Ohio with 2,694 and New York with 2,558.