4.7 Article

Mapping the indirect employment of hard coal mining: A case study of Upper Silesia, Poland

Journal

RESOURCES POLICY
Volume 83, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103693

Keywords

Hard coal mining; Indirect employment; Labour market; Administrative data; Poland; Just transition

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It is not enough to calculate the number of jobs in the mining industry to understand the impact of a coal phase-out on the labor market. This study estimates the number of indirect jobs in Upper Silesia, Europe's largest hard coal mining region, and categorizes them as either mining-related or mining-dependent. The authors also analyze the structure and spatial distribution of mining-related companies using data from public tenders and official administrative repositories. They find a significant concentration of companies near active mines and identify a high risk of job loss in mining-dependent companies if coal production declines. The authors argue for targeted labor market policies and use of administrative data in transition planning.
It is insufficient to simply calculate the number of jobs in the mining industry to determine the labour market effects of a coal phase-out. In this paper, we estimate the scale of indirect jobs in Europe's largest hard coal mining region, Upper Silesia and categorise them as mining-related or mining-dependent. Additionally, we provide a detailed overview of the structure and spatial distribution of mining-related companies, utilising in-formation from public tenders offered by five of the country's largest coal enterprises, as well as financial and employment data from official administrative repositories. Our observations have revealed a significant agglomeration effect in the region, with companies located within 20 km of the nearest active hard coal mine receiving 80% of all tender revenues. Furthermore, we have found that 41% of all identified jobs in mining -dependent companies in Upper Silesia are at high risk of liquidation if there is a decline in coal production. Finally, we argue in favour of labour market mitigation policies tailored explicitly to mining-dependent em-ployees and suggest the widespread use of administrative data in just transition planning to address the limi-tations of dominant top-down modelling approaches.

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