Jobs are being lost from the US coal industry at the fastest rate in decades as the fuel gets crowded out of an electricity market that is shrinking because of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of coal mining jobs dropped 12 per cent to 43,800 in April, the US labour department reported. The financial picture is darkening in coal districts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming. “We think that this whole situation of the pandemic will accelerate the decline of the coal industry,” said Ben Nelson, a coal industry analyst at Moody’s.
For an industry with a workforce the size of a small city, coal punches above its weight politically. President Donald Trump made reviving coal a central message in his 2016 election campaign, giving rousing speeches in front of miners wearing hard hats. But while the mineworkers’ union has petitioned the Trump administration for standards to prevent catching Covid-19 in cramped underground shafts, the government has not acted on the request, a union spokesman said. Coal mines have been declared an essential business, allowing them to stay open during stay-at-home orders. Yet US coal output is in retreat as lower electricity use hastens a shift towards cleaner fuels. US coal mining jobs in sharp fall
Last week, the Energy Information Administration projected that US coal consumption would drop 23 per cent in 2020 to 454m short tons in 2020, well below the 11 per cent decline forecast at the beginning of the year. Leverage our market expertise Expert insights, analysis and smart data help you cut through the noise to spot trends, risks and opportunities. Join over 300,000 Finance professionals who already subscribe to the FT.