We might be enjoying lower gas prices, but oil-rich areas of Texas are not.

Economists are worried that the Lone Star state could lose tens of thousands of jobs due to falling prices.

“We’re not going to know if this is a bust unless it lasts an extended period of time,” Andrew Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates Consulting Firm, told WFAA. “The jury is out on whether that’s going to happen.”

But the oil companies aren’t the only ones in trouble – many Texas businesses such as hotels and restaurants depend on their customers in the oil industry.

“We have the trickle-down effect to the companies that provide hotel and worker accommodations, to the companies that are providing restaurant and food services to those workers out in the oil fields,” said Lipow.

“It’s a recipe for disaster for small businesses,” Huy Doan, who owns Donut Palace in Pearsall, Texas, told The Eagle. “The reason I came here was for the oil field. I’m worried.”

Donut Palace is just one of many local business which could be indirectly impacted by falling oil prices.

“I hope oil goes back up,” Doan told The Eagle. “I don’t mind paying a little more in gas. I’ll make it up in doughnuts.”

Karr Ingham, an economist who works with the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, told The Eagle that when prices fall below $50 a barrel, Texas will “lose significant numbers” of jobs

“People say they’ll hang onto their best employees. I’m telling you, six months into 2015, we’ll see it,” said Ingham. “There are going to be tens of thousands of jobs lost.”

Ingham estimates that 40,000 “direct” jobs could be lost in the Texas oil industry, in addition to “tens of thousands” more “indirect” jobs.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimates that Texas could lose 128,000 direct and indirect energy jobs.

Paul Ruckman, an Eagle Ford rancher, told The Eagle that he has two active drilling rigs on his property, typically operated by 20 to 30 workers. He has seen his profits drop by about 25 percent, and wants to wait to drill for a more advantageous time.

“It’s been there for millions of years,” Ruckman said. “If it gets low, I’d just as soon leave it in the ground until prices rise.”