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

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.

Automated summary

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.