The significance of oil and gas drilling in Texas is reflected by the fact that two-thirds of its local
communities have a level of concentration in oil and gas employment higher than the national
average. The median value across all Texas counties is 3.0.
OIL IMPACTS
Given the reliance of the oil and gas extraction in Texas, how significant has such activity been
to the state’s recent economic growth? The scatter plot provides an answer. The horizontal axis
of the scatter plot shows the average annual employment growth during the recent shale oil
boom betw