An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Oil and Gas Extraction: NAICS 211

About the Oil and Gas Extraction subsector

The oil and gas extraction subsector is part of the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector.

Industries in the Oil and Gas Extraction subsector operate and/or develop oil and gas field properties. Such activities may include exploration for crude petroleum and natural gas; drilling, completing, and equipping wells; operating separators, emulsion breakers, desilting equipment, and field gathering lines for crude petroleum and natural gas; and all other activities in the preparation of oil and gas up to the point of shipment from the producing property. This subsector includes the production of crude petroleum, the mining and extraction of oil from oil shale and oil sands, and the production of natural gas, sulfur recovery from natural gas, and recovery of hydrocarbon liquids.

North American Industry Classification System

The oil and gas extraction subsector consists of a single industry group, Oil and Gas Extraction: NAICS 2111.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in oil and gas extraction. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment


Data series	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024	Mar. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	118.1	119.6	(p)119.2	(p)119.5
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees	82.5	84.0	(p)84.0
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers	1,910
Petroleum engineers	5,720
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	2,190
Roustabouts, oil and gas	4,620
Wellhead pumpers	11,670

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for oil and gas extraction.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in oil and gas extraction.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$48.15	$48.87	$47.31	(p)$48.03
Average weekly hours	42.4	43.3	42.8	(p)43.2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$43.85	$44.53	$44.17	(p)$43.48
Average weekly hours	42.8	45.0	43.8	(p)45.0
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers	75.40	75.28	156,830	156,580
Petroleum engineers	76.31	78.45	158,720	163,170
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	38.34	40.09	79,750	83,380
Roustabouts, oil and gas	21.97	25.23	45,690	52,470
Wellhead pumpers	37.24	35.48	77,460	73,800

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in oil and gas extraction. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	22	7	6	9
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2022
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	0.8
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	0.5
Cases involving days away from work	0.3
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.2
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.


Data series	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024	Mar. 2024
Producer price index	(p)183.410	(p)195.817	(p)192.588	(p)179.327
Percent change from previous month	(p)-7.6%	(p)6.8%	(p)-1.6%	(p)-6.9%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in oil and gas extraction. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments


Data series	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry	6,432	(p)6,381	(p)6,425	(p)6,440
Local government	1	(p)1	(p)1	(p)1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Labor productivity index, output per hour	237.598	262.623	307.856	286.736
Percent change from previous year	7.0	10.5	17.2	-6.9
Labor index, total labor hours	73.827	62.912	53.908	60.841
Percent change from previous year	4.6	-14.8	-14.3	12.9
Output index	175.412	165.220	165.959	174.453
Percent change from previous year	11.9	-5.8	0.4	5.1
Unit labor costs index	50.431	49.277	42.026	44.674
Percent change from previous year	-4.9	-2.3	-14.7	6.3

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Data extracted on: April 17, 2024