Figure 5. Employment in mining (seasonally adjusted) vs. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices (not seasonally adjusted), January 2007–January 2018
Period Employment (thousands) WTI crude oil price

Jan 2007

644.1 $54.51

Feb 2007

649.2 59.28

Mar 2007

653.6 60.44

Apr 2007

657.4 63.98

May 2007

660.7 63.46

Jun 2007

663.3 67.49

Jul 2007

668.8 74.12

Aug 2007

668.1 72.36

Sep 2007

667.9 79.92

Oct 2007

669.4 85.8

Nov 2007

676.2 94.77

Dec 2007

680.8 91.69

Jan 2008

687.3 92.97

Feb 2008

689.3 95.39

Mar 2008

697.1 105.45

Apr 2008

696.0 112.58

May 2008

702.9 125.4

Jun 2008

710.7 133.88

Jul 2008

715.2 133.37

Aug 2008

722.9 116.67

Sep 2008

726.5 104.11

Oct 2008

725.4 76.61

Nov 2008

720.4 57.31

Dec 2008

715.9 41.12

Jan 2009

707.4 41.71

Feb 2009

694.4 39.09

Mar 2009

677.0 47.94

Apr 2009

660.8 49.65

May 2009

644.0 59.03

Jun 2009

635.9 69.64

Jul 2009

628.5 64.15

Aug 2009

619.6 71.05

Sep 2009

614.3 69.41

Oct 2009

611.4 75.72

Nov 2009

614.5 77.99

Dec 2009

614.1 74.47

Jan 2010

619.1 78.33

Feb 2010

624.8 76.39

Mar 2010

631.2 81.2

Apr 2010

635.9 84.29

May 2010

645.7 73.74

Jun 2010

650.9 75.34

Jul 2010

657.5 76.32

Aug 2010

665.4 76.6

Sep 2010

673.1 75.24

Oct 2010

681.1 81.89

Nov 2010

687.5 84.25

Dec 2010

685.8 89.15

Jan 2011

686.5 89.17

Feb 2011

689.0 88.58

Mar 2011

703.2 102.86

Apr 2011

719.4 109.53

May 2011

729.9 100.9

Jun 2011

741.7 96.26

Jul 2011

752.2 97.3

Aug 2011

756.2 86.33

Sep 2011

765.5 85.52

Oct 2011

772.3 86.32

Nov 2011

775.1 97.16

Dec 2011

781.4 98.56

Jan 2012

789.1 100.27

Feb 2012

795.5 102.2

Mar 2012

799.0 106.16

Apr 2012

801.5 103.32

May 2012

803.7 94.66

Jun 2012

803.0 82.3

Jul 2012

800.2 87.9

Aug 2012

799.2 94.13

Sep 2012

794.4 94.51

Oct 2012

785.5 89.49

Nov 2012

792.1 86.53

Dec 2012

796.4 87.86

Jan 2013

800.4 94.76

Feb 2013

806.7 95.31

Mar 2013

808.0 92.94

Apr 2013

805.4 92.02

May 2013

810.0 94.51

Jun 2013

812.5 95.77

Jul 2013

811.6 104.67

Aug 2013

812.5 106.57

Sep 2013

816.0 106.29

Oct 2013

817.4 100.54

Nov 2013

815.3 93.86

Dec 2013

813.3 97.63

Jan 2014

818.6 94.62

Feb 2014

822.8 100.82

Mar 2014

826.8 100.8

Apr 2014

835.0 102.07

May 2014

836.3 102.18

Jun 2014

840.3 105.79

Jul 2014

845.1 103.59

Aug 2014

844.4 96.54

Sep 2014

852.0 93.21

Oct 2014

848.7 84.4

Nov 2014

846.0 75.79

Dec 2014

843.6 59.29

Jan 2015

834.9 47.22

Feb 2015

822.0 50.58

Mar 2015

806.1 47.82

Apr 2015

790.0 54.45

May 2015

767.8 59.27

Jun 2015

764.9 59.82

Jul 2015

755.4 50.9

Aug 2015

743.3 42.87

Sep 2015

726.8 45.48

Oct 2015

719.5 46.22

Nov 2015

703.2 42.44

Dec 2015

693.5 37.19

Jan 2016

678.9 31.68

Feb 2016

657.5 30.32

Mar 2016

638.8 37.55

Apr 2016

626.4 40.75

May 2016

615.0 46.71

Jun 2016

605.6 48.76

Jul 2016

600.7 44.65

Aug 2016

599.7 44.72

Sep 2016

595.8 45.18

Oct 2016

593.5 49.78

Nov 2016

596.1 45.66

Dec 2016

595.1 51.97

Jan 2017

595.9 52.5

Feb 2017

604.6 53.47

Mar 2017

610.4 49.33

Apr 2017

620.0 51.06

May 2017

625.3 48.48

Jun 2017

630.2 45.18

Jul 2017

632.5 46.63

Aug 2017

641.5 48.04

Sep 2017

641.0 49.82

Oct 2017

643.2 51.58

Nov 2017

647.3 56.64

Dec 2017

648.3 57.88

Jan 2018

654.4 63.7

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey; and U.S. Energy Information Administration.