The oil patch is a great career..great wages...can do spirit..hard work. Drilling along with major tax reform would move this country back on top in a very short time.
But if unions get involved kiss it all good bye. The oil patch from offices to the field is real work not make work.
What about all the upstream jobs created to fulfill the need for new drilling equipment, pipeline fittings, well heads, storage facility, refineries, etc.?
I would bet the steel industry alone would create 10,000 new jobs if there were a concerted national effort to increase oil production by 3 million bpd, like drilling simultaneously in ANWR, California Coast and Colorado oil shale would generate.