The other side of lower oil prices

While most of us, my family included are happy to see gas at such low prices compared to what it was recently, there is an interesting other side to the story as far as how the lower prices in oil are affecting the economy. I recommend reading the article in Time, Oil-Price Drop Forces Big Energy to Retreat in full, but one part I found especially noteworthy:

Up until a few months ago, energy exploration was one of the few bright spots in the darkening U.S. economy. There were 165,500 people in the U.S. working on oil- and gas-drilling crews at the end of October, up 11% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All mining support-service jobs, including those in the coal business, were up an even larger 17%, to 343,000. Now energy companies are sure to pull back. And that could make the nation's economic recession even worse, taking job losses to areas that had so far dodged the downturn. Denver-based Delta Petroleum said it planned to cut its capital budget in half next year. Other companies are not waiting until next year. Matthew Simmons, who heads Simmons & Co., an investment-banking firm focused on energy companies, says he has been surprised at how fast firms have begun to cut exploration. He has already heard of a number of drilling projects that have been put on hold. "Unless prices rebound fast, energy companies are going to spend less next year," says Simmons.