Coal Mining Jobs Decline

{Charleston, West Virginia}…According to new data from MSHA, the number of coal-mining jobs in West Virginia dropped by nearly 900 during the third quarter of the year. Figures show coal employment dropped to about 22,500 during the period from July to September. Nationwide, coal employment dropped 5 percent during the quarter but remained higher than at the start of the recession in 2007 and than when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency crackdown on strip-mining permits began in early 2009.