Two US Cities, One With the Highest Unemployment in the Country, The Other With the Lowest. One is the Capital of Shale Fracking; The Other is the Capital of Solar Power Production.

Guess which is which?

According to data released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Midland, Texas, has a 2.9 percent unemployment rate, the lowest in the country.

Midland sits above the Permian Basin Shale, a massive formation that constitutes a large chunk of Texas’ booming shale oil industry.

The West Texas town is also one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country, which many attribute to its booming oil-fueled economy.

...

As a result of Midland’s fracking-induced oil glut, the town’s increasing population is also enjoying a boost in personal incomes. Per capita income in the city increased by 25 percent between 2009 and 2011.

...

In contrast to the successes of those oil and gas boomtowns, Yuma, Ariz., is facing the highest unemployment rate of any U.S. metro area at a whopping 26.1 percent.

Yuma is the site of the Agua Caliente solar plant—the largest photovoltaic solar generation facility in the world.

Agua Caliente received a $967 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2011. According to DOE, federal financing helped create 10 permanent jobs.

Ten jobs for almost a billion dollars.

That's damned good.

Via @slublog.

posted by Ace at 03:36 PM

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