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Advancement in drilling technology has increased natural gas extraction activities from the Marcellus shale deposit resulting in a shale gas boom in many regions, including West Virginia. This boom has created a significant labor demand shock to local economies experiencing the boom. A number of studies have shown that a shale gas boom directly increases employment and the income of those working in the industry. However, the boom can also have an adverse impact on other sectors through the resource movement effect and intersector labor mobility, pulling workers away from a related sector like forestry. Thus, an econometric model of employment in the forestry sector was developed to investigate the impact of the Marcellus shale gas boom in West Virginia. There is evidence of a labor movement effect with forestry employment negatively affected by the Marcellus shale boom. Specifically, the overall marginal effect of the shale boom on forestry employment is approximately 435 fewer jobs. However, the extent of the decline is slightly moderated by a higher relative wage between gas and forestry, perhaps suggesting diminishing returns and overall slack in the local labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We take a closer look at changes in county unemployment rates in Indiana during the Great Recession and evaluate how local population and the mix of sectoral employment inuence these patterns. Using a quantile regression approach, we specifically observe the impacts on counties on both tails of the changes in unemployment distribution. We find the impact of sectoral composition of a county's workforce depends on its geographical classification. Overall, greater reliance on pro-cyclical industries, most notably manufacturing, magnifies the increases in unemployment during the recession. This effect is further amplified for MSA counties. In contrast, counter-cyclical industries, education in particular, insulates the counties in the top 10th percentile of the distribution of changes in unemployment rates, and a stronger insulation effect is observed for MSA counties. At the bottom 10th percentile, education marginally amplifies changes in unemployment rates for MSA counties, whereas it insulates non-MSA counties from the same distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]