I can’t believe all the doom and gloom articles I’ve spotted in the last few weeks about layoffs by drillers, oil service firms, and related industries, not to mention bankruptcies and reorganizations of many businesses involved in oil production, as world oil prices continue to slump. Yes, those things will happen, and I wouldn’t want to be a roustabout or heavy equipment hauler who just recently was hauling down six figure annual pay with overtime and is now worrying about pink slips.
But these things will end, and the oil will still be in the ground. The companies who come through the current belt tightening will be stronger and leaner than when the siege began, and will have acquired rigs and skilled workers from outfits that went belly-up, while shedding some of their own marginal operations and workers.
Meanwhile, consumers are even now enjoying a $3-4,000 annual windfall, and the auto industry is already seeing increased sales, including sales of bigger, much safer cars. People are going to start planning vacations, dining out more frequently, and buying some new furniture, so jobs lost in oil and oil service will reappear elsewhere in the economy.
In short, unless you work in oil, relax. The drop in oil prices is providing the American consumer a much larger boon than any tax reduction they’re likely to see, even if we do elect conservatives to control the White House and both houses of Congress in 2016.
What most don't realize, is there are more indirect jobs created outside the oil industry due to their purchase of equipment, material and labor, than direct hires. Steel mills, cable manufacture, valves, buildings, etc all get impacted.
For example:
Caterpillar is latest victim of sliding oil price
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3247811/posts
The maker of diggers and dozers’ direct exposure to the sector is equal to about $6.5 billion, or 12% of revenue, while its indirect exposure may be as much as 15% of revenues