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Spring Semester 2013 Media Highlights
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Wall Street Journal Reports CSU Student
Research
Shale Boom Not Leading to Widespread Hiring in Ohio
by Timothy Aeppel, The Wall Street Journal : Real Time Economics
March 25, 2013
Ohio’s shale boom appears to be injecting a lot more retail spending in the corner of the state where that exploration and development work is concentrated, but it isn’t yet leading to much more hiring.
Researchers at Cleveland State University found that sales receipts in the 13 Ohio counties that have the state’s highest concentration of shale development grew 21.1% in 2012 to $14.9 billion, up from $12.3 billion the year before. By contrast, in the 44 Ohio counties without any shale development, receipts went up only 6.9%. The report divided the state into four categories — high shale development, zero shale development, as well as moderate and weak shale development. Sales receipts grew only 7.6% in moderate shale counties, 10.9% in weak shale counties. “Sales activity in strong shale counties has clearly been faster than elsewhere in the state during 2012,” the report says.
So far, though, the same doesn’t hold true for hiring. The researchers found employment rose 1.4% year-over-year in counties with heavy shale production, exactly the same as in counties with moderate development. Weak shale counties had 0.8% job gains, while counties with no shale development saw 1.3% in job gains.
“Employment growth associated with exploration and early state production may have been captured by out-of-state workers that already possessed the necessary skills and training,” the report says. But that could change. “Employment growth should accompany the increased scale and scope of shale activities in coming years.”