Like other sunset industries, the coal sector is increasingly characterized by bigger and fewer companies, more and larger equipment, and less labor-intensive operations. In the United States, the 10 largest firms account for 60 percent of output, up from 35 percent a decade ago. Though domestic consumption continues to crawl upward, exports have dropped 25 percent since 1996, and experts agree that they will never return to pre-1998 levels. The rate of contraction has as much to do with politics as with economic and environmental factors. Coal industries in both the United Kingdom and Germany have been weakened since the 1960s by environmental regulations and the switch to cleaner natural gas, now the fuel of choice for power generation in industrial nations.
Similar struggles lie ahead for other coal-dependent nations.
In South Africa, coal production has risen 65 percent, but employment has fallen over 20 percent, since 1980. In India, where production has doubled since 1980, employment is still declining as a proportion of population. Russia has halted production in 90 mines and intends to have shut 130 of its 200 mines by 2000. Major future losses are expected in these countries as improved productivity and the shift to less energy- intensive service industries make more jobs redundant. The world s leading coal producer and consumer, China has lost 870,000 workers over the last five years, and slashed production by 250 million tons in 1998 due to excess capacity and rail transport bottlenecks.