Natural Gas Facts

Natural Gas Facts
by Sheryl Long 

You probably know that natural gas is good for your business, but it is also good for the United States economy. Check out these statistics from the American Gas Association.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Homes and business served by American Gas Association (AGA) members are the largest consumers of natural gas in the country and the industry as a whole employees nearly 3 million people.

• 622,000 jobs are directly involved in exploring for, producing and distributing natural gas (direct employment). Natural gas distribution employment provided between 116,000 and 122,000 (nearly 20%) of these direct jobs.
• 723,000 additional jobs are created in industries such as agriculture and manufacturing that support and supply goods and services to the natural gas industry (indirect employment).
• 1.5 million jobs are supported when direct and indirect natural gas employees introduce the income back into the economy and create demand for further goods and services (induced employment).

For more information, visit http://www.aga.org/our-issues/playbook/Pages/default.aspx

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Employment Impact

The number of direct jobs created by the natural gas industry increased 20% between 2006 and 2008.

The natural gas industry employs people in all 50 states.

The natural gas industry’s value-added economic impact totaled $385 billion in 2008, or 2.7% of U.S. output. In addition, the gas industry provided $70 billion of direct income for workers in 2008.

The industry projects that the Marcellus shale gas play alone will result in approximately 160,000 additional jobs by 2015.