Is There a World Wide Shortage of People In the Oil & Gas Industry?

Its been quite some time since I posted my last blog about the oil & gas industry. Not that I have forgot about it but I just did not seem to be able to find the time to do anything, even in my spare time. Anyone involved in the oil and gas industry, especially those of us who work as free lance consultants as Well Services or Well Intervention Supervisors will know how crazy things have been for about the last seven or eight years and it's been fairly recession proof at the same time.

So! The question that comes to Mind! Is there a world wide short of people in the oil and gas industry and are younger people not interested in this kind of employment? It appears that all the major oil and gas operators around the world have an ongoing recruiting campaign all year round and it does appear to be difficult to find experienced people. The amount of agencies that make contact each day is becoming quite unbelievable for jobs that are available around the globe.
There does appear to be a big gulf in experience levels with in all sectors of the industry from the Drilling companies who are always looking for roughnecks and roustabouts to the service companies looking for Coil Tubing, Wireline or Well Test personnel. But the sad thing is there are a small number of people out there who would love to get into the oil and gas industry but dont have any experience when they apply for jobs. Surely these people should be given a chance? After all we all have to start somewhere in any industry and that usually means at the bottom. I do think people who are interested enough should be given the chance to come in are trainee's in order to bridge the gap as I think some time in the next ten years there will be a lot of retirements and this could further exasperate the problem.
What ever happens, the industry will still kick along and muddle through. One thing is for sure and that is that the problem does need tackling. We are in quite interesting times right now and everyone I talk with appears to have the same opinion about the state of the industry right now. But one good thing is and that is this type of emplyment should take me through the next twenty years to my retirement.