With prices topping $100 per barrel, US oil companies need to hire thousands of workers — but employers like Amazon and Target have reportedly beaten them to the punch

• Oil prices are climbing, but US energy companies are having a challenging time hiring enough workers.
• "We're competing against Amazon hiring drivers," one executive told Reuters.

At a time when energy market turmoil is pushing oil prices above $100 per barrel, North American oil companies are facing public pressure to ramp up production.

As with many industries, those efforts are facing significant headwinds in the shape of a labor shortage.

US government figures show there are roughly 100,000 fewer workers in the oil and gas industry than there were before the pandemic started two years ago, and the most recent quarter saw tens of thousands more quit jobs in the sector.

"We're competing against Amazon hiring drivers, or Target with positions in air-conditioned warehouses," Patterson-UTI Energy CEO Andy Hendricks told Reuters. "It's easier than a drilling rig in west Texas in the summer."

Of the 695 drilling rigs operating in the US, Patterson-UTI runs roughly a sixth, per Reuters, and Hendricks said job fairs that once drew 200 people now attract less than half that number.

Oil jobs still pay more than warehouse or retail work, but those sectors are catching up and oil-worker wage gains lag behind overall inflation, BLS data show.

In addition, some companies have stopped paying as much for irregular or inconvenient assignments like traveling to remote locations for seasonal maintenance work.

Hendricks told Reuters that his company raised wages to be more competitive last year, but average compensation in the industry has not kept pace with inflation after seeing a significant drop during the first year of the pandemic.

The labor challenges compound other challenges facing the industry, like a shortage of the special grade of sand used for fracking, or investors' new emphasis on "capital discipline" after a previous boom-and-bust cycle.

Taken together, economists at the Dallas Federal Reserve previously estimated that it's unlikely that US oil producers will be capable of meeting the surge in demand for another six months at least.

If you are a worker in the oil and gas industry, please get in touch with this reporter via email.