Jul 30, 2014 2 min read

The Marcellus Shale Coalition said Tuesday its members plan to hire a total of 2,000 people this year with the majority of them for positions in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s portion of the shale strata.

The projection came from the oil and gas industry group’s “2013 Year-End Workforce Survey” of its membership, which it said represents nearly 95 percent of Pennsylvania’s shale production.

According to a news release from MSC, in 2013, 26.5 percent of new hires were in engineering and construction; 23 percent in equipment operations; 15.2 percent in operations and maintenance; 8 percent in administration; 7 percent in land; and 5 percent in environmental, health and safety.

The survey found 83 percent of new hires came from Marcellus Shale states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, New York and Maryland.

According to MSC, members surveyed said the biggest challenges to hiring included finding qualified talent, the competition for qualified talent and a willingness by job applicants to relocate.

According to the survey data, MSC member companies expect to hire more than 2,000 new employees in 2014. The survey also showed that the majority of new hires are in three sub-sectors: engineering and construction; midstream and pipeline; and operations and maintenance. About 80 percent of new hires this year will work in the Southwestern Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus.

“Shale development represents a generational opportunity for our commonwealth,” said MSC President Dave Spigelmyer. “Since day one, our industry has focused on fostering the growth of a skilled and well-trained local workforce to ensure that lifelong opportunities are being fully realized.

“These collaborative and ongoing efforts – industry groups, member companies and other key stakeholders working closely with a host of educational institutions as well as trade schools – continue to deliver strong results in the form of new jobs for our region’s workforce, as reflected again in this survey data.”