Report: U.S. coal mining industry continues to lose jobs

U.S. coal mining employment has fallen 42% since 2011, most dramatically in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the Appalachian region, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The agency’s 2018 Annual Coal Report, released Wednesday, said U.S. coal production peaked in 2008 but that mining employment peaked in 2011. Since then, coal production has fallen and many mines have closed.

Employment fell from a high of 92,000 employees in 2011 to 54,000 employees in 2018, according to EIA. In Pennsylvania, the number dropped from 8,665 employees in 2011 to 5,385 in 2018 — a 38% decrease.

In 2008, the United States produced 1.2 billion tons of coal from 1,458 mines. In 2018, U.S. coal production was 756 million tons from 679 mines, EIA said.

As was the case with employment, much of coal’s production decline was concentrated in the Appalachian region. More than half of the region’s mines have closed since 2008, and production has fallen from 390 million tons in 2008 to 200 million tons in 2018.

In Pennsylvania, coal production went from 65.4 million tons from 266 mines in 2008 to 49.8 million tons from 151 mines in 2018, according to EIA.

Much of the declines in employment and production are attributed to a drop in demand because of competition from natural gas and renewable energy sources for electric power generation, EIA said.

The decline in operating mines has been steeper than the changes in employment and production. EIA’s review of operating mines showed that smaller mines have had greater difficulty competing in the current market and have been the first to close.

This year, a Pennsylvania Coal Alliance report noted that coal mining still accounts for nearly $7 billion in economic activity in the state, including $4.6 billion directly from mining and $2.27 billion from indirect and induced contributions.