U.S. oil and gas hiring “remains disciplined, not aggressive”, Brian Binke, the President and CEO of Michigan based the Birmingham Group, an affiliate of Sanford Rose Associates, told Rigzone recently.
“Upstream is still selective, with most activity tied to optimization, maintenance, and targeted buildouts rather than expansion. Companies are prioritizing margin protection over headcount growth,” he added.
Rig counts and pricing volatility continue to influence decision-making, according to Binke.
“When operators feel confident about sustained pricing and project visibility, hiring picks up quickly. Until then, most firms are adding talent only where it directly supports production efficiency or reduces operational risk,” he told Rigzone.
“The biggest pressure point continues to be experienced technical professionals. The workforce is aging, and the pipeline of younger engineers entering oil and gas is still thinner than it was a decade ago. That creates pockets of tightness even in a slower hiring cycle,” he added.
Binke went on to tell Rigzone that, if commodity stability improves, he expects modest momentum in the second half, “particularly in engineering, operations, and field leadership roles”.
“I would not characterize it as a hiring boom, but I do see potential for steady improvement if confidence builds,” he said.
In its latest State of Energy report, which was released last week, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) stated that the U.S. oil and gas industry employed 2,043,859 professionals in 2025, which it added represented a net decline of 8,368 direct jobs compared to 2024, subject to revisions.
“When incorporating direct, indirect, and induced multipliers for employment at the national level, the industry supported 19,282,999 million jobs last year,” the report said.
“There were 373,478 direct U.S. upstream sector jobs in 2025, a net decline of 9,218 jobs compared to 2024,” it added.
The largest sector by employment in the U.S. oil and gas industry was Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores with 887,198 workers in 2025, according to the report. This was followed by Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations, with 214,994 jobs, Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction, with 145,315 jobs, and Natural Gas Distribution, with 117,261 jobs, the report showed.
“The largest increase in jobs in 2025 occurred in Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores with a net increase of 3,648 compared to 2024, followed by Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction (1,640), Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas (1,612), and Natural Gas Distribution (703),” the report revealed.
“Thirteen of the nineteen sectors showed a net decline in jobs in 2025,” it said.
According to TIPRO’s report, the oil and gas industry paid a national average wage of $84,574 in 2025.
“Workers in Crude Oil Extraction earned the highest annual average wage of all oil and gas industry sectors at $234,743, followed by Natural Gas Extraction ($189,378) and Petroleum Refineries ($172,162),” TIPRO’s report noted.
Payroll in the U.S. oil and gas industry totaled $173 billion in 2025, according to the report, which stated that this was an increase of $1.4 billion compared to the previous year.
“The number of U.S. oil and gas businesses totaled 164,383, subject to revisions,” the report highlighted.
TIPRO’s report pointed out that 23 percent of all U.S. oil and gas jobs were located in Texas in 2025, adding that direct and indirect oil and gas jobs totaled 2,509,121.
In a TIPRO statement sent to Rigzone last week, TIPRO President Ed Longanecker said, “despite facing a number of unique challenges, the U.S. oil and gas industry continued to offer significant economic support in 2025, while providing reliable and affordable energy to meet growing domestic and global demand”.
“TIPRO will continue to advocate for policies at all levels of government to strengthen the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, ensuring Texas remains the nation’s leading producer while supporting jobs, economic growth, energy security, and reliable, affordable energy for consumers and industry,” he added.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
////console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 64 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
