09/16/2026
Shale gas’ importance to Ohio’s economy is small and shrinking
Sean O’Leary
The level of hyperbole that pervades discussions of the shale gas industry’s role in Ohio’s economy has always been excessive. But recently, as the industry has pursued access to Ohio’s public lands for fracking and sought subsidies and regulatory favors, the claims have become absurd. It’s time for a regrounding in facts.
The oil and gas industry makes up just 0.7% of Ohio’s economy and it’s shrinking. After reaching a high of 0.92% of Ohio’s gross domestic product in 2014, the share attributable to the mining sector, which is nearly all oil and gas, dropped to 0.67% in 2024.
Ohio natural gas production is shrinking. The year 2025 was Ohio’s sixth consecutive year of declines. After reaching a peak of 2,651,631 trillion cubic feet in 2019, production bottomed out last year at 2,100,726 TCF, the lowest in any year since 2017.
But, what about things that really matter to people like jobs and wages?
According to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Ohio’s shale gas industry provides just 9,172 jobs or 0.17% of jobs in Ohio.
Since 2017, 44% of shale gas jobs have been lost. After peaking at 16,407 workers in 2017 shale gas employers have eliminated 7,235 jobs.
Wages have also dropped by 44% as well since 2017.
But, isn’t shale gas a major driver of the economies in counties where it is produced in large volumes? These are the Ohio Valley counties of Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, and Noble. And, if natural gas is an economic driver, it is driving these counties into the ground.
At first glance, you wouldn’t think gas development is such a bad thing because these 8 counties have seen their economies grow 25% faster than the state’s as measured by GDP. But, the effects on the ground paint a different picture.
While Ohio has seen jobs increase by 5.7% since the start of the fracking boom in 2008, these 8 counties have seen jobs plunge by 11.8% – nearly 13,000 jobs lost.
The 8 counties are also experiencing a loss of workers as the population plunged by more than 29,000 residents.
These facts will be jarring to many people who have been inundated with industry happy-talk and rhetoric, which is often accompanied by “alternative facts,” which upon examination, turn out to be grossly misleading and may not be facts at all.
For instance, the industry and JobsOhio regularly trumpet the $117.5 billion that researchers at Cleveland State University inform us has been invested in the state since the start of the fracking boom.
What that statistic doesn’t indicate, however, is how much of the amount invested enters the economies of host counties. Little does, which is why we see the immense discrepancy between burgeoning GDP growth and falling jobs and wages.
Another diversion from the facts is industry proponents’ use of “modeled” economic impacts, with which they infer (i.e. make up) the number of jobs “supported” by the industry.
The word “supported” is a euphemism for jobs that may exist in other industries and that proponents say wouldn’t exist but for their industry. By this method, they often lay claim to more than 100,000 jobs or more than 11 times the actual number.
We shouldn’t rely on such wizardry, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services provide us with the actual figures, which I’ve reproduced here and which you can see on their websites.
Finally, industry proponents will try to divert your attention to other industries and other issues. They will for instance argue that natural gas saves consumers lots of money on their utility bills. If true, it’s only by a little. Since 2008, inflation has raised prices by 49.6% and electric rates have risen by 48.1%. Only in direct use of gas for heating and cooling are prices still at levels comparable to those in 2008.
What conclusions should we draw from the facts? The shale gas industry is neither a major provider of jobs, nor does it provide a solid foundation for economic development.
The Ohio counties where it is concentrated are afflicted with chronic job and population loss and the industry has done nothing to alter those trends and, in fact, because of its adverse effects on health and quality of life, may contribute to them.
The level of hyperbole in discussions of the shale gas industry’s role in Ohio’s economy has always been excessive. Recently, as the industry has targeted Ohio’s public lands for fracking and sought subsidies and regulatory favors, the claims have become absurd.
