Resident vs. nonresident employment associated with marcellus shale development

There is much debate about the employment effect of shale gas development, especially as it relates to extraction counties. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the jobs created are filled by nonresidents. We examine the impact shale gas development has on local employment in Pennsylvania using a data set that links workers to their personal residences. We find that activity in the Marcellus shale has had a modest positive impact on job growth. The impact is cut in half, however, when we use data for county residents only. Thus, traditional employment data may overestimate employment impacts from shale development.