There certainly is a big supply/demand imbalance, but undergrad geology enrollments are actually way up. All geoscience departments I know have have dramatically increased in size in the past 10 years or so. (e.g. where I went to undergrad has gone from 5 geo majors to ~60, and I've seen the same at the two places I went to grad school)
A lot of it is that a geoscience job at an oil company requires an M.S. or a Ph.D., and geology degrees typically take longer than most other fields. There's a minimum of a 6-year lag between starting undergrad and being eligible for a job. Typically it's more like 7-8 years total for an M.S. and 8-12 years for a Ph.D.
Therefore, it's a long pipeline. I just started in industry, and when I switched to geology in undergrad (early 00's), oil companies were not hiring geologists and hadn't been for 15 years.
The stigma associated with going into the oil industry depends a lot on where you are geographically. If you go to an "oil patch" school, then it's the opposite effect. It is a factor, but I'd argue the field vs. desk job part has a larger influence.
Geologists tend to become geologists because they _really_ like the outdoors. With a few exceptions, as a petroleum geologist, you're behind a desk 100% of the time. Compare that to fields like environmental consulting or state government work where you can start right out of undergrad and are in the field a significant portion of the time. (Both of those pay less and tend to involve less actual geology, though.)
Finally, there's a risk/reward trade-off. Geologists tend to be among the first to go when layoffs start. We're concentrated in exploration and development (note: field development, not software), and exploration is viewed as an expense, not a profit center. Exploration budgets get slashed the second things look like they're going to take a downturn, and smaller companies lay off most of their exploration geologists whenever oil prices drop. Development is the second thing to cut back on after exploration. A lot of the folks that I got my M.S. with started jobs in '06 or '07 and were laid off in '08 or '09. They've all since found jobs again, but the cycle will repeat itself.
Comments
There certainly is a big supply/demand imbalance, but undergrad geology enrollments are actually way up. All geoscience departments I know have have dramatically increased in size in the past 10 years or so. (e.g. where I went to undergrad has gone from 5 geo majors to ~60, and I've seen the same at the two places I went to grad school)
A lot of it is that a geoscience job at an oil company requires an M.S. or a Ph.D., and geology degrees typically take longer than most other fields. There's a minimum of a 6-year lag between starting undergrad and being eligible for a job. Typically it's more like 7-8 years total for an M.S. and 8-12 years for a Ph.D.
Therefore, it's a long pipeline. I just started in industry, and when I switched to geology in undergrad (early 00's), oil companies were not hiring geologists and hadn't been for 15 years.
The stigma associated with going into the oil industry depends a lot on where you are geographically. If you go to an "oil patch" school, then it's the opposite effect. It is a factor, but I'd argue the field vs. desk job part has a larger influence.
Geologists tend to become geologists because they _really_ like the outdoors. With a few exceptions, as a petroleum geologist, you're behind a desk 100% of the time. Compare that to fields like environmental consulting or state government work where you can start right out of undergrad and are in the field a significant portion of the time. (Both of those pay less and tend to involve less actual geology, though.)
Finally, there's a risk/reward trade-off. Geologists tend to be among the first to go when layoffs start. We're concentrated in exploration and development (note: field development, not software), and exploration is viewed as an expense, not a profit center. Exploration budgets get slashed the second things look like they're going to take a downturn, and smaller companies lay off most of their exploration geologists whenever oil prices drop. Development is the second thing to cut back on after exploration. A lot of the folks that I got my M.S. with started jobs in '06 or '07 and were laid off in '08 or '09. They've all since found jobs again, but the cycle will repeat itself.