04 July 2015, News Wires – The jobs report for June, released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows a continuation of the trend for declining mining jobs. There were 4,000 mining jobs lost in June, making a total of 71,000 mining jobs lost since a recent high in December 2014. Most of these job losses have been concentrated in support activities for mining.
The June jobs report doesn’t come as much of a surprise to the oil and gas industry as layoffs have been present for the first half of 2015, due to the sharp decline in oil prices that began in late 2014. The world has seen more than 150,000 jobs lost in the oil and gas industry due to the downturn.
However, the jobs report was not all doom and gloom for the oil and gas industry. Employment in architectural and engineering services increased by 4,000 in June. But do the modest gains in engineering services mean the worst of the downturn is over? It’s hard to tell, but some analysts believe $60 per barrel oil will be the new normal, and that oil and gas companies should structure their companies on that price expectation.
While Rigzone’s 2Q global hiring survey revealed that the majority of hiring managers are reluctant to expand hiring efforts, 81 percent of hiring managers said the candidate pool has grown in the last three months.
– Rigzone
