The oil and gas industry has long posed a terrible tradeoff. It might risk poisoning your water, destroying the environment, or causing horrible, mysterious illnesses — but, the industry argues, it provides jobs. Not only is this an awful bargain; it’s an empty one. Our recent analysis reaffirms what we’ve long known. Big Oil and Gas’s claims about jobs are nothing but hot air.

This is especially relevant in Pennsylvania, where the fracking industry holds massive sway over politics. It’s conventional “wisdom” that any presidential candidate must appease it to win this swing state. 

This argument is making the rounds again as the 2024 election heats up. The Trump campaign has echoed industry talking points, arguing that Kamala Harris’ past opposition to fracking is a weakness in the must-win state. The news cycle has followed suit, boosting the narrative that fracking — and fracking jobs — are a key factor. 

But in reality, fracking has little impact on state job numbers. Food & Water Action found that in 2023, fracking accounted for 19,452 direct and indirect jobs.* That’s just 0.32% of the 6 million jobs in Pennsylvania — a record low for the past decade, even though the state is producing gas at near-record highs.

At the national level, the oil and gas industry provides just 621,861 direct and indirect jobs. Yet the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s main trade group, claims oil and gas is responsible for 11 million. The industry’s job numbers are actually falling, despite record-high oil and gas production. 

Meanwhile, jobs in renewables and green manufacturing are booming, in great part thanks to policies of the Biden-Harris administration. And while Harris will continue to support clean energy, Trump will reverse these policies and double down on oil and gas, jobs be damned.

Big Oil and Gas’s Bogus Accounting

For years, the fossil fuel industry has inflated job numbers, making outrageous claims about its economic heft. These claims are nowhere near the employment statistics generated by state and federal agencies.

According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, direct employment in oil and gas extraction is near its lowest level in a decade. In 2023, the industry employed only 115,638 people, having hemorrhaged about 81,000 jobs since its peak in 2014. Even including indirect employment in related sectors, like pipeline transportation and manufacturing equipment, the industry was responsible for only 621,861 jobs.

Meanwhile, the industry backs its employment numbers with deceptive accounting tricks. For example, nearly half of the “direct jobs” in API’s analysis are in the gas station sector. It also says that the industry supports 2.3% of all employment in the fossil fuel desert of Washington, D.C. This laughable claim makes sense only when you consider the army of consultants, lawyers, and lobbyists pushing Big Oil’s agenda in the halls of government.

The truth is, this industry is not the jobs heavyweight it claims to be. It doesn’t bring massive employment opportunities — just pollution, sickness, and economic decline for local communities.

Renewables Jobs Are Booming Thanks to Biden-Harris Policy

While fossil fuel jobs are stagnating, employment in renewable energy has only grown. 

We found that during the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, wind and solar generation jobs offset the decline in fossil fuel generation jobs four times over. This resulted in a 7.7% increase in the total number of jobs in electric power generation. In contrast, during the first three years of the Trump administration, the electric power sector lost nearly 12,000 jobs.

We’ve also seen employment growth in industries integral to our renewable energy transition. For example, battery manufacturing added about 10,000 jobs from 2021 to 2023.

Growth in sectors that include renewable manufacturing contributed to the creation of 563,986 jobs in manufacturing overall in the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration. Compare that to 369,400 manufacturing jobs created in the first three years of Trump’s presidency.

This is no coincidence. During the current administration, Vice President Kamala Harris has championed renewable energy, including measures that reward domestic sourcing for components and prioritize American jobs over free trade commitments. These policies are contributing to the start of a manufacturing renaissance — based on clean energy, not dirty fossil fuels.

Pennsylvania Is Losing Out on Renewables Growth Because of Fracking

Unfortunately, this growth has not reached the Keystone State, likely in part because of fracking’s dominance. Pennsylvania has seen near-negligible growth in renewable energy, while broad swaths of the country have made leaps.

From 2014 to 2023, Pennsylvania’s proportion of electricity generated from wind and solar grew from 1.8% to 2%. That’s far behind the national growth from 5.1% to 15.9% over the same time period.

Thanks to a lack of investment in renewables, Pennsylvania’s electric power generation sector has suffered fossil fuel job losses without new renewable electricity opportunities to help make up the difference. 

From 2014 to 2023, employment in the state’s electric generation industry fell by 28.9%. Wind and solar sector jobs were so few that they weren’t even reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Contrast that with Arizona, whose wind and solar generation grew from 4.2% to 12.1% of the state’s electricity over the same time period. That resulted in a 52% increase in the number of overall electric generation sector jobs.

Fracking’s grip on Pennsylvania is preventing jobs, opportunities, and growth in the green industries of the future. At the same time, Pennsylvanians are becoming increasingly sick of the toll the industry exacts. 

A poll during the 2020 election found that a slight majority of Pennsylvania voters oppose it. Another 2020 survey found that 48% support banning it outright, and a 2021 survey found that less than a third of Pennsylvania voters support maintaining fracking.

The bottom line is that supporting fracking is not a make-or-break deal for Pennsylvania voters. It is, however, for oil and gas titans who have donated heavily to Trump.

A Harris Presidency Means More Jobs — Clean and Green Ones, Too

The Biden-Harris Administration has passed ground-breaking legislation to invest in manufacturing and American jobs. It’s supporting the growth of the clean, green industries necessary for our livable future, spurring a manufacturing boom at the same time. With Harris as president, this vital work will continue, and we can push for even more progress.

Conversely, the Trump campaign has pledged to undo much of the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, including those supporting clean energy. Both Trump and the wider Republican party have promised to expand fracking and drilling even more. This will sacrifice our planet for Big Oil and Gas’s bottom line, with little in the way of new employment to show for it.

It’s past time to end the myth of the industry’s jobs and economic impact. Playing into these talking points is harmful to Pennsylvanians and people across the country. 

They’re completely false, and they fail to account for all the costs that communities bear because of oil and gas development, including rising healthcare costs, devastated tourism and recreation industries, and boom and bust cycles that harm local economies. They also conveniently gloss over all the economic benefits of a renewable energy transition.

We need a president who will bring real jobs in urgently needed green industries, not one who happily parrots — and adds to — the lies of polluting megacorporations. 

* Direct jobs are those that are in a given industry (e.g., those working on drilling rigs or fracking sites) and indirect jobs are those that support that industry (e.g., those making drilling equipment and pipelines).