The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-09-21
Employment Will
Increase In Gas
And Oil Industry
Study Made BY WPA Re-
search Project Finds New
Uses Are Many

will continue for q decade or more to
provide increasing employment op-
portunities in spite of chronological
improvements which have trebled the
output per man in the last twenty
years, study conducted by the WPA
National Research Project finds.
The report, entitled Technology,
Employment and Output Per Man In
Petroleum and Natural Gas Produc-
tion," asserts that all indications point
to steadily increasing fuel demands
for many years to come. In addition,
invention and improved production
techniques serve constantly to reveal
new uses for, and by-products of,
petroleum and natural gas. These
create new industrial demands which,
in turn, create new demands for la
Dor. This expanding technology is
not expected to abate, nor even to be-
come static, within the next ten or
fifteen years at the least.
The report was made public today
by Colonel F. c. Harrington, WPA
commissioner. In letter of transmit
tai, Assistant Commissioner Corning
ton Gill, who is in charge Of research,
finance and statistics, states:
Contrary to the outlook for most
of the other extractive industries, it
is expected that overall employment
opportunities in oil and gas produc-
tion probably will increase for the
next decade and half, although the
manpower requirements of the differ
ent divisions of the industry will vary,
The upward trend of employment at
oil and gas well = characteristic of
developments until 1929-has been re-
sumed and probably will continue for
the next ten or fifteen years :"
The report constitutes one of the
most comprehensive analyses of the
production phases of the petroleum
and natural gas industry ever made:
Mr.. Gill said. It's significance is
heightened by the fact that Of more
than score of Industries examined
by the National Research Project in
the last three years, petroleum and
natural gas is the only one in which
an expanding technology is accom-
panied by prospects for increased en-
ployment.
Oil and gas now supply more than
a third Of the country's energy re-
quirements, an Introductory statement
points out, and pets;aleum alone is the
source of virtually all industrial lubri-
cants. Aside from coal mining, oil
and gas production is the most i'm
portant segment of the mineral in
dustry.
"From the commercial beginning of
each division of the industry down to
the time of the great depression, pro-
duction showed an almost uninterrupt-
ed increase" the report states: "The
rate of growth, moreover, has been
rapid, and the period of greatest eX
pansion was the postwar decade,
when the growth of production of
other minerals was slowing down. In
this period the output in all branches
of the petroleum and natural gas in
dustry more than doubled. Even the
depression served as only temporary
check; in 1887, production, with the
exception of natural gasoline extrac
ton, exceeded all previous records.
GAS a result, the petroleum and
natural gas industry, measured in
terms of value Of products, now ranks
as the country's most important min
eral industry. In 1887, the value of
the crude petroleum, natural gas and
natural gasoline produced totaled ST.
1913 1922 ,OO0-more than third of the
value of all minerals. Measured in
the same way, oil refining ranks
among the five leading manufacturing
industries of the country. :"
The trend Of employment, it is
found, was consistently ward
through the boom year of 1929. Over
this period total labor requirements
grew rapidly, the greatest increase
occurring during the war decade. Sub
stantial recovery in employment has
been made since the depression low
point of 1885. In the primary produc
ton segments of the industry (Which
excludes refining) total employment
grew from l3G,735 in 1885 to 159,8 500
in 1887
Striking improvements have been
made in the increased output per
worker, the report states, continuing:
''rhe history of the petroleum and
natural gas industry represents an al
most continuous record of successive
economies in unit labor requirements.
Output per man-hour Tin oil and gas
wells and natural gasoline plants) in
creased more than $50 per cent be-
tween 1880 and 1885. A more than
three-fold gain was recorded in the
relatively short span from 1919 to
1885.
"A similar trend is shown for
output per man in petroleum refin-
ing. The throughput of crude petro-
leum per man-hour in 1887 was 65
per cent over 1929. and more than
three times above the 1919 average