The drop in oil prices has negatively affected the job market in Kansas. That’s what Ed Cross, with the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, told lawmakers on Monday.
Cross says low prices have caused oil and gas producers to slow down drilling projects and even shut down wells.
“This is having a profound impact on the oil and gas industry. Producers themselves have laid off as much as 20 to 30 percent of the workforce. The service sector is hit the hardest, many of those companies have laid off as much as 50 percent,” Cross says.
Cross says nationwide, the oil and gas industry has lost more than 200,000 jobs.
