Are the petroleum industry jobs likely to be stable?
Yes and No! The petroleum industry is subject to boom-and-bust cycles. Survival through the bust phase requires a competitive edge combined with some luck. From a peak employment in 1981, the giant oil companies shed more than 750,000 employees (Figure 12). Using American Association of Petroleum Geologist membership statistics as a proxy for corporate statistics, it appears that many giant oil companies reduced their technical work force about fifty percent from the early 1980’s peak employment. If one compares 1995 major oil company memberships in AAPG with 1975 numbers, however, one sees that there are more AAPG members today in each company than in 1975 (Figure 13). This suggests continuing growth in the technical staff over the long term. Figure 12 Figure 13 Survivors of the bust often do very well. They generally have stronger backgrounds in basic earth science, which allows for greater flexibility as job demands evolve. Many who leave the major companies go into consulting and a
