Most folks probably don’t think of Illinois as a major oil and natural gas industry state. But the recently released Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) 2021 State of Energy Report shows that perception doesn’t always align with reality.

Even coming off possibly the toughest year the industry has ever faced, the report finds that the Illinois oil and natural gas industry – including the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors – was responsible for $22 billion in Gross Regional Product (GRP) in 2020, representing three percent of the Land of Lincoln’s overall economy. The following Illinois fact sheet was featured in the report.

According to the report, the Land of Lincoln had 16,374 direct oil and natural gas industry jobs in 2020, placing it among the top-10 states in direct oil and natural gas industry employment. The report also shows Illinois oil and natural gas industry jobs pay an average of $104,840 a year – 65 percent higher than the private sector average. These are just a few of the many reasons Gov. JB Pritzker designated the oil and natural gas industry as “essential” when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were first implemented. Illinoisans not only rely on the essential products and services our regional oil and natural gas industry provides, the industry itself is a major economic engine and employer in the state.

The TIPRO report tallies 1,741 Illinois upstream oil and natural gas industry jobs in 2020, a figure that does not include hundreds of non-payroll independent contractors that are not captured in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data used as the primary employment source of the report. Using the most recent U.S. Census Bureau Non-Employer Statistics Report, IPRB conservatively estimates more than 3,200 were directly employed in the Illinois “upstream” oil production industry last year. The upstream Illinois oil and gas industry also indirectly supports thousands of other jobs. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the oil and natural gas extraction industry has one of the highest indirect job employment multipliers, where one direct job leads to an additional 5.43 indirect jobs.

Not surprisingly, the TIPRO report finds that Illinois upstream oil and natural gas production industry jobs were down 19 percent last year. The oil price demand and price shock created by the COVID-19 pandemic had an even bigger negative impact nationally, as upstream jobs were down 24 percent across the country. There were 359,410 upstream jobs (not including non-payroll independent contractors) in the U.S. last year, down 112,348 jobs compared to 2019. Oil and gas support and service industry jobs were hit particularly hard, down 77,393 jobs from 2019 (192,163).

Despite an undeniably tough year, direct U.S. oil and natural gas industry jobs still totaled 902,223 in in 2020, paying 86 percent higher than the private sector average ($113,601).

On the state level, the report also shows that there were 342 upstream oil and natural gas businesses in Illinois in 2020 and that 25 percent of the state’s oil and natural gas industry workforce is 55 or older, indicating there will be strong job demand going forward as a large share of the state’s workforce is at or near retirement age.

Check out IPRB’s recently updated Illinois oil and natural gas industry “By the Numbers” fact sheet for a snapshot of the importance of the industry in the state.