Shale drilling boosts pay.
The national average hourly wage (adjusted for inflation) has seen either no growth or negative growth since 2007 in states that don't have much shale oil or natural gas drilling, according to Deutsche Bank.
Meanwhile, wages have increased quite a bit in shale production states, which include Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, Utah, Kansas, and West Virginia.
Growth in the shale states had been consistently positive, and was increasing through mid-2014. However, things fell off a bit as the price of oil has cratered.
Here's the chart, from Deutsche Bank:
Deutsche Bank