Kentucky hasn’t seen major change in coal jobs since Trump’s election

The state of Kentucky hasn’t seen a significant jump in coal industry jobs since President Trump took office promising to save the industry, according to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader.

About 6,550 employees were working in the coal sector when Trump was sworn into office in January 2017. But a Kentucky Coal Quarterly report estimated the average employment between July and September 2018 was 6,381 coal jobs in the state. 

The news outlet notes that jobs in the industry have fluctuated throughout Trump’s time in office. At some points, coal employment has been higher than when Trump first took office. 

Overall, the statistic show that coal employment has not increased at the rate some may have hoped. But the numbers show that rapid job losses that began in 2012 have slowed and that employment has been more stable. 

In Kentucky, employment has stayed between 6,300 and 6,600 jobs since 2016. 

“We feel that the blood-letting that was happening as recently as 2016 has ceased,” Tyler White, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, told the news outlet. “We’re doing a lot better.”

Coal jobs in Kentucky peaked at about 18,000 in 2011, according to Kentucky.com. Nationally, there were about 90,000 employees in the coal industry that year. 

The estimated total for coal jobs nationwide is now 52,600. According to numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, there were about 1,900 more jobs in October in coal then when Trump became president. 

Trump has continually voiced support for the coal industry, and has repeatedly said that he’s bringing back jobs for miners during campaign speeches around the country. 

His administration has also rolled back many environmental policies instituted during the Obama administration in an effort to help the coal plants.