Gas industry claims to be a large employer > Check the facts
Claim
The gas industry regularly claims that it is a large employer.
Facts
Because of the industry’s size the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does not publish separate figures for the gas industry. The latest employment figures for the oil and gas industry (November 2013) show that these two industries combined employed 23,200 people. The Australian workforce in November 2013 was 11.6 million. The oil and gas industry made up 0.2 per cent of total employment.
Employment in Australia by selected industry
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), the gas industry’s peak body has claimed the gas industry created an additional 100,000 jobs in 2012. According to the ABS 115,800 additional jobs were created in 2012 throughout the whole of Australia. If the gas industry was correct then it would have been responsible for 89 per cent of all additional jobs.
ABS figures show that in 2012 the oil and gas industry increased employment by 5,100 jobs.
To read more download the latest Institute paper Fracking the Future or view the related infographic.
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