by Christine A. Resler and Neal Murthy

There has been a continuous buzz about an impending workforce crisis in the upstream oil and gas sector as a result of baby boomer retirements and the lingering legacy of the massive layoffs of the mid-1980s. The Independent Petroleum Association of America estimates that 40 percent of the industry's skilled professionals will reach retirement age within four years, while the Society of Petroleum Engineers finds that more than one-third of the current technical workforce is over 50. To compensate for these losses, an infusion of skilled, college-educated workers must be brought into the industry. A report by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, however, states that enrollment in geosciences programs across the United States has decreased by 70 percent since the mid-1980s!

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