This trend is hurting me directly since our company sells sensors used in offshore oil exploration. No drilling, no need for further exploration. Our little company is severely affected. We were producing 500 sensors per month until last Dec. We’ve only produced 500 in all of 2015 with no orders on the books. Ouch!
That’s worse than ouch. One of my acquaintances owns a small machine shop whose work and headcount really escalated because of the oil industry. He is going through a heart wrenching experience now as he can no longer wait to begin laying off people, most of whom are older and very skilled at their task. He originally tried to hire some younger people and even offered free training but could find very few who were willing to learn and work hard. In a few years many with the necessary skills will no longer be with us or be able to work. Just so sad.
I work for SLB. It started a couple of days ago. Got my boss’ s boss today.