The 20 counties within Texas directly and indirectly involved in the development of the hydrocarbon producing formation known as the Eagle Ford Shale (EFS) have witnessed an increased supply of EFS-related jobs within certain industries and requiring specific job training. These education and workforce impacts vary based on the phase of EFS development occurring in different parts of the region, and affect the demand for certain occupations and training in each county.

For this comprehensive study of the EFS workforce impacts, the short-term effects are first analyzed by evaluating the 2010-2011 one-year occupational and educational impacts upon each county. Next, the long-term effects are assessed by comparing the 2011-2021 ten-year Eagle Ford Shale impacts upon each county’s occupational and educational composition. The 14 producing counties examined in this report are Atascosa, Bee, DeWitt, Dimmit, Frio, Gonzales, Karnes, La Salle, Live Oak, Maverick, McMullen, Webb, Wilson, and Zavala. The 6 non-producing counties are Bexar, Jim Wells, Nueces, San Patricio, Uvalde, and Victoria.

In order to derive each county’s workforce impact by county, we examined the direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts by county in the 20-county region. Direct impacts primarily consist of the actual production and employment by firms operating directly in the EFS. Indirect impacts include the operational and personnel expenditure made by suppliers, or inter-industry transactions spurred by the direct economic activity. Induced impacts include income flows created when workers spend money on various goods such as food, housing, and other products or services in the counties the counties under analysis.

The development of the Eagle Ford Shale has distinct phases, during which individual industries will experience varying levels of labor demand and evolving types of labor demanded. Thus, education and training requirements for workers will need to remain flexible enough to accommodate the vacillating needs of industry. For example, during the exploration phase counties will see a rise in the need for occupations dealing with mineral leasing, site construction/management, drilling rig support, and material transport. As companies shift into the production and processing phase of operations, they require a workforce composed of business management, administrative support and the processing of gas, oil and condensates occupations.