As the recession sets in, the U.S. labor market appears to have a split personality. Industries such as oil and gas remain desperate for workers, while many college graduates may soon find themselves collecting unemployment. At the same time, the post-pandemic period has seen record numbers of able-bodied workers dropping out of the labor pool altogether, coupled with declining productivity among those who stayed in.
Anthony Gallegos, CEO of Independence Contract Drilling, is among those struggling to find enough employees and says the labor shortage is an impediment for the entire oil and gas industry.
“Labor, in my opinion, will ultimately be the throttle on the United States’s ability to respond to the call on U.S. conventional [energy] resources,” he told The Epoch Times. “If you’re 18 or older and you can pass a drug test and pass a physical, we will hire you, we will train you, and we’ll pay you really good money,” he said. The starting salary for his employees is around $70,000, working half the year, because shifts are two weeks on and two weeks off—but the work is hard….