The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on the role of the oil and gas industry in reversing Western Pennsylvania’s “brain-drain”:
The natural gas boom is helping to reverse a downward spiral that began with the fall of the once-mighty steel industry in the 1980s, a collapse that sent thousands of Western Pennsylvanians elsewhere to work.
Between 1970 and 1990, the region lost 158,000 manufacturing jobs and more than 289,000 residents, according to University of Pittsburgh researcher Bob Gradeck.
But that had changed by 2010, and more people were moving into the region than moving out, said Chris Briem, regional economist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.
Starting with the Class of 2010, Washington & Jefferson College, which is in the heart of gas drilling country, reported an increase in the number of students entering the energy field.
W&J graduates have landed jobs in the oil and gas industry in Washington County — as petroleum engineers, land technicians, environmental technicians, data analysts, IT professionals, attorneys, accountants and public relations professionals, said spokeswoman Karen Oosterhous.
More than 237,000 jobs in Pennsylvania are related to Marcellus shale drilling, according to state figures, and more than 5,000 Marcellus-related jobs are available statewide as of July, an increase of 900 over the previous year.