The local employment impacts of fracking: A national study

This paper quantifies the local economic impacts of hydraulic fracturing. We match extremely detailed oil and natural gas well data to county-level aggregate and sectoral employment data. Controlling for time-varying unobserved determinants of job growth, we find approximately 550,000 local jobs attributable to the shale boom. While this is substantial, it is smaller than previous studies. We also show that the effects are heterogenous across sectors. Impacts are concentrated in extractive industries, in local non-tradable and service sectors, and in areas with the largest increase in drilling activity.