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

Jan Frankowski, Joanna Mazurkiewicz and Jakub Sokołowski

Resources Policy, 2023, vol. 83, issue C

Abstract: 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 information 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 employees and suggest the widespread use of administrative data in just transition planning to address the limitations of dominant top–down modelling approaches.

Keywords: Hard coal mining; Indirect employment; Labour market; Administrative data; Poland; Just transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s030142072300404x

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103693

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