Arkansas Business reports on the economic benefits generated by the Fayetteville Shale:
Kathy Deck, director of the Walton College Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, said the Fayetteville Shale surpassed expectations by generating total economic activity of more than $18.5 billion, exceeding early estimates of $14.2 billion by about 30 percent.
During the Great Recession of 2007-09 — “when things could have been much worse,” Deck said — Arkansas’ economy was buoyed by the injection of billions of dollars’ worth of investment, job creation and royalty payments.
Direct employment in the mining, quarrying and oil extraction industry in Arkansas more than doubled between 2001 and 2010, according to Deck’s research, from fewer than 3,900 to more than 8,300. By comparison, overall employment in the state increased by only 0.6 percent during that period, which ended with the effects of the recession still lingering.
Read the whole story here.