Wages and people

Oil worker Steve Jeffrey

Steve Jeffrey has worked in the oil industry since the 1970s. He still works in the industry as a consultant. He was interviewed in 2004.

The industry was very very highly paid in the 1970s. The only comparison I can make nowadays is a driller nowadays in 2004 makes the same number of $ every month as a driller did in 1977….

In the 70s the industry was wholly dependent on people. It was dependant on people making huge physical effort to do the job. It was dependant on people putting a lot of intellect and thought and experience into getting things done. And it was also the time when the off shore industry was in its infancy. Then the industry was learning how to cope with the harsh environment of the bad weather, the big waves, the distance from shore all the other bits and pieces. So people were more important. Now the industry is fairly much a process. It's mainly automated and the input of the individual is no longer required, so the individual is there to service the machinery and in the 70s it was the other way round.