Employment, Input-Output Linkages, and the Energy Transition in California's Top Oil-Producing Region

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ryan, Rich, Michieka, Nyakundi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Ryan, Rich
Michieka, Nyakundi
author_facet Ryan, Rich
Michieka, Nyakundi
contents The US economy is transitioning away from fossil fuels toward sources of green energy. California policymakers have adopted the goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 or earlier. Within California, Kern County accounts for over 70 percent of oil produced within the state. To understand how the transition may affect opportunities in Kern, we propose a structural vector autoregressive model that jointly explains the global crude-oil market and the evolution of employment within Kern. We use monthly data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. While industries directly involved in the extraction of fossil fuels employ less than 2 percent of workers, the oil market is responsible for 11 percent of the variation in employment growth. Employment would be 6.4 percent lower currently absent the influence of the global oil market. We explain these large effects using a theoretical framework of production that relies on a network of input--output linkages. The findings may be useful to policymakers designing place-based policy aimed at helping vulnerable oil-dependent regions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_23462
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Employment, Input-Output Linkages, and the Energy Transition in California's Top Oil-Producing Region
Ryan, Rich
Michieka, Nyakundi
General Economics
Economics
The US economy is transitioning away from fossil fuels toward sources of green energy. California policymakers have adopted the goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 or earlier. Within California, Kern County accounts for over 70 percent of oil produced within the state. To understand how the transition may affect opportunities in Kern, we propose a structural vector autoregressive model that jointly explains the global crude-oil market and the evolution of employment within Kern. We use monthly data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. While industries directly involved in the extraction of fossil fuels employ less than 2 percent of workers, the oil market is responsible for 11 percent of the variation in employment growth. Employment would be 6.4 percent lower currently absent the influence of the global oil market. We explain these large effects using a theoretical framework of production that relies on a network of input--output linkages. The findings may be useful to policymakers designing place-based policy aimed at helping vulnerable oil-dependent regions.
title Employment, Input-Output Linkages, and the Energy Transition in California's Top Oil-Producing Region
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.23462