Where will all the coal jobs go?
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  Where will all the coal jobs go?
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Author Topic: Where will all the coal jobs go?  (Read 1163 times)
The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« on: November 01, 2013, 05:09:17 PM »

The decline of coal isn't expected to end in the near future, so what are economists expecting to happen to the remaining coalminers and mining businesses that still exist?  Will they be able to quickly find other jobs in the energy sector that produce renewable energy sources, or is there a long path to poverty ahead for most of the remaining coalminers?
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2013, 07:23:13 PM »

Why do you ask like this is some kind of future scenario? The coal industry has been collapsing (particularly in terms of employment, particularly in terms of the sort of jobs people tend to associate with the coal industry) for thirty years. It it is thus possible to find out the answer right now.
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snowguy716
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« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2013, 04:07:49 PM »

Where they've been going for quite some time already, Scott:  A fantasy world of reality TV and bad daytime TV, a poor diet, and grinding poverty.

And those young enough and smart enough to GTFO, will GTFO.
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opebo
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« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2013, 07:24:47 AM »

...grinding poverty.

And those young enough and smart enough to GTFO, will GTFO.

To live in poverty or near-poverty in urban centers elsewhere in the country.
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Cassius
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« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2013, 08:27:46 AM »

Well, most current coal miners will be left poorer than previously. So too most probably will their children. But after that... Who can say?
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DINGO Joe
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« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2013, 10:40:58 AM »

As mentioned this has been going on for some time.  There is one county in southern West Virginia that had 100,000 people in the 1950s and now has 20,000.  National Journal has had several articles about the shift in energy

http://www.nationaljournal.com/new-energy-paradigm/coal-country-s-decline-has-a-long-history-20131031

About 80% of the decline of coal is at the hands of Natural Gas thanks to fracking and there is some overlap between coal country and the NG boom in the Marcellus and Utica, but in East Kentucky, Southern WV and SW VA there is no hope.
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LastVoter
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« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2013, 02:58:33 PM »

To Chinese miners.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2013, 04:50:05 PM »

Perhaps I should have phrased the question differently: where are the coal jobs going?  Is there any data on where the majority of coalminers end up when they are displaced?  I would assume that most of them continue to work in blue collar jobs, but what jobs specifically?
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Indy Texas
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« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2013, 01:25:16 AM »

Perhaps I should have phrased the question differently: where are the coal jobs going?  Is there any data on where the majority of coalminers end up when they are displaced?  I would assume that most of them continue to work in blue collar jobs, but what jobs specifically?

So are you asking where the coal jobs are going or what jobs the coal workers are getting after losing their coal jobs?

If the latter...
(1) Some will work in fracking jobs in the same region.
(2) Some will return to school and pursue jobs in fields such as healthcare.
(3) Some who are simply determined to mine coal may move to someplace like Wyoming.
(4) A lot will work dead-end retail or service jobs or simply go on disability, which in the new economy has become a way for blue collar white men to sit at home and collect "welfare" without the stigma that is attached to unemployment insurance or TANF.
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opebo
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« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2013, 07:23:40 AM »

(4) A lot will ... go on disability, which in the new economy has become a way for blue collar white men to sit at home and collect "welfare" without the stigma that is attached to unemployment insurance or TANF.

Must be awfully difficult to get disability, though.
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DINGO Joe
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« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2013, 10:05:02 AM »

Well, the don't have to go as far as Wyoming as the Illinois Basin does have some modest growth in coal mining. 

As for Disability, WV in notorious for having the highest disability rates in the country (though non-coal miner Arkansas is #2)

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/05/20/states-with-the-most-americans-on-disability/2/


There is a new scandal in the state over lawyers and doctors colluding to deny Black Lung benefits (black lung disease still exists), so maybe some of them can get that.

Otherwise, the region doesn't have much of a history of dynamic growth, so they may have to look elsewhere for opportunities. 

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