Eagle Ford Shale Truck Driving and Oil Jobs Causing Workers To Migrate

For a long time, many Americans thought of "migrant workers" as being low wage earning immigrants from other countries who did jobs such as picking fruit and vegetables. With the national economy in a tailspin, more blue collar workers and professionals are themselves becoming migrant workers as they are forced to move far away from where they live to find a decent job.

Many Americans Are Migrant Workers Today

While we might associate the term "migrant" in a negative light, our nation has a long history of workers migrating to where the jobs are. Migrant means "one that moves from one region to another by chance, instinct, or plan" or "an itinerant worker who travels from one area to another in search of work". Being a migrant worker has nothing to do with nationality or country of origin.

One of the largest migrations of workers happened during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era, when thousands migrated to the West Coast in search of jobs. Many in our new "migrant nation", are headed south and west, to new oilfields such as the Eagle Ford shale in Texas, and Bakken shale in North Dakota.

What is the Eagle Ford shale you ask? The Eagle Ford shale is a major new oil discovery which could be as large as the one made in Prudhoe Bay Alaska many years ago. This thick layer of shale rock in South Texas could hold as much as 25 billion barrels of crude and it has been hailed as the largest domestic discovery of oil in over 50 years. Drilling in the Eagle Ford shale, as well as similar rock formations such as the Bakken shale, is at an all time high. In Texas the Eagle Ford shale has already created over 30,000 new jobs and the numbers are increasing each month. New oil discoveries such as the Eagle Ford are one of the few bright spots in the United States economy.

Migrant Oil Workers Setting Up Camp In South Texas

Housing is in such short supply that many of the new oil workers are living in RV parks or sharing apartments. Towns such as Three Rivers and Cotulla, TX, have seen dozens of new RV and mobile home parks spring up in the past few months. Some of those living in the trailer "camps" have come from as far away as Indiana, and have left their families behind so that they can earn money to send back home. Moving to an oil boom area to find a job is never easy. Grocery prices are often inflated, living conditions are often crowded, and workers miss family and friends that they left behind. Oilfield work hours are long, and many employees work shifts that are well over 12 hours in length, for weeks on end.

What Kinds Of Oilfield Job Are There?

Whenever a major new oil discovery is found, a number of things must happen in order for that oil to be produced and sent to market. Wells must be drilled, oil well locations built, tanks installed, pipelines laid, refineries and compressor stations built, roads and other infrastructure built, and much more. Truck driving jobs are one of the most common jobs related to the development of a new oilfield. Everything from the gravel used in building new roads to pipe must be hauled to remote locations. For those with a class A CDL (commercial drivers license) and who are able to pass a drug test, there are truck driving jobs to be found in new oilfields such as the Eagle Ford shale. It is helpful to have Hazmat and tanker endorsements on one's license. Frac sand hauling jobs, which involve driving trucks that carry frac sand used in completing new oil wells, can be found posted in many of the local papers in South Texas. Other oilfield related jobs include those for welders, roughnecks, electronics technicians (hooking up automated metering and valve control systems), frac crew technicians, hotshot drivers (who deliver parts to well locations), and heavy equipment operators who can operate equipment such as bulldozers and backhoes.

Some estimates put the amount of jobs that will ultimately be created by the Eagle Ford shale at over a quarter of a million. As workers in hard hit areas, such as the "rust belt", struggle to find jobs in those areas, the trend of migrating to where the jobs are will continue to increase.

For a look at some of the types of oilfield jobs available in the Eagle Ford shale and other areas, see Texasoilfieldjob.

When considering a move to an oil boom area, make sure you are able to find living quarters before accepting any job. Some new employees in the Eagle Ford shale have reported that finding available housing is a problem, and have found themselves driving over 70 miles to work each day.