AUSTIN, TX.—Texas’ upstream employment grew in August, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association reports.

According to TIPRO, upstream direct employment totaled 205,100 positions in August, a net gain of 200 jobs from July. “This represented a decrease of 200 jobs in oil and gas extraction and the addition of 400 jobs in the services sector,” TIPRO says, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To quantify interest in hiring for the oil and gas industry as a whole, TIPRO tracks job posts across 19 subsectors. It says the total post count grew in August. “There were 10,154 active unique job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry (that month), compared to 8,853 postings in July, and 3,806 new postings, compared to 3,840 in the previous month,” TIPRO relates.

Among industry subsectors, Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations led the way with 2,212 postings, followed by Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (1,896), Petroleum Refineries (1,166), and Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas (867).

The job growth was not evenly spread across the state. TIPRO notes that “the leading four cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston (2,497), Midland (682), Dallas (410) and Odessa (357).”

Who’s Hiring?

Several large employers were particularly active in recruitment, TIPRO‘s data shows. Convenience store chain Love’s had the most unique job postings in August at 752. Gas station company Murphy USA took second with 395 posts, followed by pipeline company Energy Transfer with 354, and Primoris Service Corp., which provides construction and field services, at 244.

“Of the top ten companies listed by unique job postings last month, five companies were in the services sector, two midstream companies, two in the gasoline stations with convenience stores category, and one fully integrated oil and natural gas company,” TIPRO reports.

While not every company disclosed exact positions, listings ranged from equipment operators and field technicians to engineering and project roles. The most common positions included cashiers, general maintenance and repair workers, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, TIPRO notes. The association says 37% of the unique job postings had no education requirement listed, 29% required a high school diploma or GED, and 35% called for a bachelor’s.

Looking at the national picture, TIPRO counts 59,724 unique oil and natural gas job postings in the United States in August, including 20,165 new postings.

“The Texas oil and natural gas industry remains vital for job creation, innovation and energy security, with 2025 employment trends driven by a variety of dynamic factors,” says Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO. “Federal policies, including faster permitting and expanded LNG export approvals, along with transformative investment in AI-driven data centers, will support increased export activity, creating high paying jobs in midstream, gas-fired generation and export infrastructure in the coming years.”

Industry tax contributions remained high in August, TIPRO mentions. “Texas energy producers paid $445 million in oil production taxes, a six-month high. Further, producers also paid $194 million to the state in natural gas production taxes, up 143% from August 2024,” the association details.

For more information, including a list of the three most popular sites for posting jobs, see TIPRO’s announcement.