Workforce Report 2018

WORKFORCE REPORT 2018

3.2 Employment Overview It is estimated that the upstream oil and gas industry currently supports almost 283,000 jobs in the UK, based on the latest projections of expenditure for 2018. These employment figures are a combination of direct employment 7 within the sector, indirect employment 8 across the wider supply chain and jobs that are induced 9 by the sector’s wider economic contribution. Although some companies are continuing to make reductions in the size of their workforce, other companies are now adding to their numbers as activity begins to pick up gently in 2018. This will represent the first increase in total industry supported employment since 2014.

It is also observed that total employment in 2017 was lower than previously estimated at circa 280,000, primarily driven by lower-than-expected capital investment last year.

Figure 1: Total Employment Supported by the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry 10

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018 Estimate

Direct

41,300 206,100 216,500 463,900

37,300

35,600 155,100 136,200 326,900

36,100 125,100 118,800 280,000

36,800 126,700 119,200 282,700

Indirect Induced

169,468 180,232 387,000

Total

500,000

450,000

Direct

Indirect

Induced Total

400,000

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

Employment Supported by the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry

100,000

50,000

0

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Source: Experian

7 Those employed by companies operating in the extraction of oil and gas and associated services. 8 Employment as a result of supply chain effects caused by oil and gas sector activity. For these companies, extraction of oil and gas and associated services will be one part of a wider business. 9 Employment supported by the expenditure of income from the oil and gas sector. 10 The 2016 and 2017 figures have been revised to reflect updates from the Office for National Statistics and changes to industry expenditure.

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