The Marcellus shale will turn out to be the largest job creator in Appalachia and other parts of the Northeast United States in recent history.

This massive domestic reserve of natural gas, which some experts believe holds up to 500 trillion cubic feet of gas, will provide good paying jobs for skilled and semi-skilled workers.

To know what kind of jobs will be coming to the area of the Marcellus Formation we only have to look southwest, to the Barnett Shale formation of Northern Texas.

In this area there was no oil and gas activity to speak of until the Barnett Shale was discovered. The Barnett shale is roughly ten times smaller than the Marcellus Formation in size.

In the Ft Worth area, west to Weatherford and south to Cleberne, TX there have been many new start up businesses catering to the oil and gas industry.

These include "hot shot" or small equipment delivery services, water and oil hauling services, equipment rental services including water pumps and water line for hydraulic fracturing and more.

Dozens of small construction companies have sprung up to build well locations and install tank batteries, build oilfield roads, and dig pipelines.

These type of construction based businesses will flourish in the Marcellus Formation areas.

There will be jobs for workers skilled in heavy equipment operation, fabricating and welding.

There will also be many jobs in the Marcellus Shale in drilling. Skilled and semi-skilled laborers will be needed to work on oil drilling rigs. Roughnecks can make as much as $40 per hour with overtime and roustabouts or laborers can make around half that.

For more information about jobs in the Marcellus Formation see the links section below this article.