The Economic Contributions of Mining in Alabama

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Economic Contributions of Mining in Alabama

Examine The 2007 Report Here.

An insightful report, furnished for the National Mining Association, of facts and statistics concerning the economic contributions of coal; not only in Alabama, but Nationwide

• The State of Alabama, home to 241 mining operations, provided direct employment to 11,710 people and another 27,810 people indirectly from mining activity occurring both in and outside the state for a total of 39,520 jobs statewide.

• Mining jobs in Alabama are high paying – 55 percent higher than the average wage in the state. The average annual wage in the mining industry in Alabama was $58,000 in 2007. Total direct earnings from the State of Alabama’s mining payroll were $680 million. Including earnings from indirect economic activity from the mining industry in Alabama and elsewhere, a total of $1,670 million was earned by workers in Alabama. Income and payroll taxes from Alabama payrolls, including federal, state and local, and FICA totaled nearly $519 million.

• Alabama mining operations created $2,450 million worth of mineral, metal and fuel products. The economic activity indirectly generated by the mining industry in Alabama and other states generated an additional $3,190 million in output from suppliers and other industries in Alabama. In total, $5,640 million in output was generated in Alabama by the mining industry.

• American mining produces the critical raw materials necessary to the foundation of our economy. From the minerals and materials used in housing, automobiles and computers, to the mined coal and uranium that generates more than half our nation’s electricity.

• A total of 1.5 million jobs were generated by mining in the United States in 2007. For each of the 376,310 jobs in mining, the mining industry requires the output equivalent of a total of 3.9 workers. Thus, excluding the one mining job, each mining job creates an additional 2.9 jobs in other sectors of the economy.

• For each job in coal mining, an additional 3.5 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy - a total of 4.5 jobs including coal miners. Coal mining in the U.S. generated a total of 554,650 jobs during 2007.