The energy industry across the Pittsburgh region now represents 16 percent of the area's economic activity, with more than 150,000 direct and indirect jobs relying on the sector.

But there's still a "skills gap" that's keeping local workers from securing energy jobs, said Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Mr. Yablonsky and his colleagues announced Wednesday a public awareness campaign that will promote job opportunities in a local energy portfolio that includes every natural resource outside of Soylent Green.

The campaign will feature print advertising, television spots -- even a presence at Pitt football games -- that encourage employment possibilities in the area's expanding coal, natural gas, nuclear, solar and wind industries.

The regional energy industry comprises of 750 companies that directly or indirectly support the sector.

Mr. Yablonsky said about one-third of those are energy firms, about one-third are suppliers to energy firms and the rest provide goods and services to the first two groups.

The Energy Alliance of Greater Pittsburgh, a consortium of about 100 companies and other organizations that conducted the study, said the sector's gross regional product is $19 billion.

In the past five years, there have been 204 energy-related expansion announcements. Natural resource firms accounted for 88 of those expansions, and 64 were connected to expansions at manufacturing companies associated with energy development.

Drilling in the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation has been a major catalyst of that growth, especially since it's only been a little more than five years since extraction first began in the region.

Washington County, where much of the drilling is concentrated, was second in the region for expansion announcements with 49.

Allegheny County registered the most expansion announcements with 82, but Mr. Yablonsky said that's to be expected since it dwarfs other counties in population.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that two local counties, Butler and Washington, saw healthy employment boosts from March 2010 to March 2011.

The increases were largely attributed to Marcellus Shale activity in Washington County and a campus move for nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co. from Allegheny to Butler County.

Indeed, the Allegheny Conference's push comes as the topic of jobs becomes one of the most questioned -- and contentious -- issues for the booming energy industry.

Natural gas drillers have been criticized for employing workers from other shale plays like Texas and Oklahoma rather than training Pennsylvania men and women.

To help close the "training gap," institutions such as the Community College of Allegheny County and Penn State have established training curriculums that teach students how to work as roustabouts and in other shale positions.

The energy positions require "mind, muscle and imagination," said Mr. Yablonsky, adding, "Fortunately, I think we have all three."

The members of the Energy Alliance alone have more than 2,000 job openings, said Mr. Yablonsky.

The postings will be advertised on a new website, www.PowerOfPittsburgh.com, which will house a database of energy-related job openings and connections to regional training programs.

The effort is underwritten by several companies and organizations and includes energy firms such as Consol Energy, EQT Corp. and Range Resources.

The region will be further strapped as older workers retire, said Mr. Yablonsky, so the campaign is targeting potential young hires who could see the industry as an option for their children or grandchildren (hence the ads at Pitt games).

The new ad campaign's aesthetic draws on World War II efforts that drummed up support for the war effort, with a variation on Rosie the Riveter and even an homage to the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph of U.S. soldiers raising an American flag on the sands of Iwo Jima.

In the Allegheny Conference version, one of the "soldiers" is sporting a hard hat, another wears a baseball cap, and there's even one with a ponytail.