Cheap Oil Is Being Blamed For 200,000 Job Cuts

Oil prices staged a brief rebound for part of 2016, but have been in a bearish trend since June. After topping $50 per barrel in June, WTI crude is now flirting with the $40 per barrel mark and were seen trading below its 200-day moving average.

Oil bulls aren't the only ones worried about investments in the commodity - employers should be worried as well. According to CNN Money, cheap oil prices resulted in nearly 200,000 job cuts in the U.S. since oil prices began a long-term drop in mid-2014.

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CNN Money cited a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The report stated that 95,000 of the eliminated jobs occurred at energy companies in 2016 alone. In fact, July of 2016 saw a "resurgence" of job cuts in the energy sector as layoffs surged by 796 percent year-over-year to 17,725.

"The industry has been hit harder than we've seen in the 15 years we've been in the business, much harder than '08 downturn," Jeff Bush, president of oil and gas job recruiter CSI Recruiting, told CNNMoney.

Thousands of layoffs occurred at companies whose business rely on a strong oil and commodity market, such as heavy equipment makers like Caterpillar Inc. CAT.

Thankfully for tens of thousands layoff workers, a bullish outlook for the oil and gas sector could put people back to work. Analysts at Goldman Sachs believe 80,000 to 100,000 people will be put to work in the sector by the end of 2018 to keep up with rising global demand.