Consider this employment scenario for a recent college graduate with a bachelor’s degree:
Multiple job offers. Guaranteed job placement. Average starting salary of $70,000. Signing bonus of $10,000.
Not just any graduate, mind you. This scenario is particular to the 2004 graduating class of petroleum engineers with bachelor’s of science degrees from the Colorado School of Mines.
Welcome to the energy field, home to some of the biggest annual wage increases of all Colorado jobs.
The petroleum sector boasted the highest wage increases, except for windfall payouts made to workers in a steel mill, a food plant and a credit bureau.
Petroleum extraction workers saw average annual pay soar from $93,206 in 2003 to $142,389 last year, a 52.8 percent increase, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, all Colorado workers saw wages increase by an average of 3.4 percent to $40,285 in 2004.
“The energy industry has a huge supply-and-demand problem in employment,” said Jeff Bush, president of Denver employment firm CSI Recruiting. “There simply aren’t enough experienced personnel to supply the needs.”
The graying of the energy workforce, combined with record- high prices for energy, has energy companies desperate to hire young professionals who can help sate the thirst for petroleum.
But while energy pay gushed, pay in other areas sagged.
Compensation for workers in industries such as cookie-making, arcades, appliance rental and T-shirt-making fell in 2004 by 34 percent to 47.5 percent.
Rich Babich, owner of Nickel-a-Play with arcades in Aurora, Arvada and Colorado Springs, said there are fewer arcades now than in the recent past.
Rick Donohoe, owner of Cookies in Bloom stores at Cherry Hills Marketplace in Littleton and FlatIron Crossing, said consumption takes a hit when people are cutting their expenses.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
