With Labor Day upon us, the need to rebuild the nation’s job base is as acute as it has ever been.
From the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard to the streets of Washington D.C., this is the harsh reality the Obama administration faces as the unemployment rate remains stubbornly stuck above 9%.
As the 2012 election cycle kicks off this fall, it’s now or never for an administration that has spent the last three years spinning its wheels with an economy that’s badly in need of another jump-start.
According to a recent poll, only 34% of the nation currently approves of how the president is handling the economy, while a full 65% has given him the big thumbs down…
As job frustrations mount, the pressure is on as the White House is set to unveil new jobs initiatives in a post-Labor Day speech next week.
How to Create American jobs
One place they could turn to for guidance is the booming oil industry in places like the Bakken region in North Dakota, where the state’s unemployment rate is hovering around 3%.
In true boomtown fashion, employers in cities such as Williston are now desperate for new hires due to the millions of barrels of oil flowing from the area’s unconventional shale formations in the Williston Basin.
With potentially 15 billion barrels of crude on tap, experts believe it won’t be long before the area surpasses the production coming out of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
As a result, the region has largely been unaffected by a four-year-long economic slump. In Williston, jobs are to be found everywhere you look. And North Dakota isn’t the only state enjoying a boom…
From the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas to the Marcellus Shale in parts of Pennsylvania and New York, the oil and gas industry is providing jobs on a scale not seen in other parts of the economy.
While they may not be “green,” they are getting people back to work — and putting precious dollars in their wallets.
More Jobs than General Motors
The same thing could be true if the administration would work to speed up the approval process for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP spill.
According to a new study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, clearing out a backlog of pending drilling permits in the Gulf could have significant benefits for the economy as early as next year. The result would be 230,000 new jobs — more positions than General Motors has worldwide.
What’s more, the employment effects would not be limited to the Gulf states: One-third of the jobs would be generated outside the Gulf region in battleground states like California, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
Additionally, the study projects new Gulf drilling would contribute the following:
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More than $44 billion of additional U.S. GDP
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Nearly $12 billion in tax and royalty revenues to state and federal treasuries
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Production of more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day, equivalent to 150 million barrels a year
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A $15 billion reduction in the amount the United States sends overseas to foreign suppliers
Needless to say, these benefits aren’t just going to materialize if we continue to sit and twiddle our thumbs…
In true American fashion, it’s time for the government to lead, follow, or get out of the way on this one.
As the home to trillions upon trillions of hydrocarbons trapped in hard-to-reach offshore deposits, oil sands, and other unconventional oil formations, the American oil and gas industry is actually one of the bright spots in an otherwise dim economy.
That’s why energy stocks will continue to outperform the markets in the years to come. It’s an ongoing trend every investor should hitch his wagon to.
My colleague, oil sands expert Keith Kohl, has uncovered a promising company that will be piping nearly half a million barrels per day to the United States within a decade. He lays it all out for investors right here.
As for the president’s plan to create jobs, I’m hopeful he understands no economy can survive long without them — regardless of how they are created.
That’s what I’m thinking about this holiday weekend… It’s all about jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
As always, our editors have put together a few of their best money-making ideas for the coming years in this week’s top-read articles from Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital, below.
Happy Labor Day!
Your bargain-hunting analyst,
Steve Christ
Editor, Wealth Daily
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