Counting and Profiling Coal Mining Industry Jobs: A Guideline to Using Administrative Data

Haroon Bhorat, Lisa Martin, Jabulile Monnakgotla, François Steenkamp and Anda David
Additional contact information
Haroon Bhorat: University of Cape Town
Lisa Martin: University of Cape Town
Jabulile Monnakgotla: University of Cape Town
François Steenkamp: University of Cape Town
Anda David: AFD - Agence française de développement

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: South Africa is undergoing the early stages of an energy transition away from coal. A planned transition requires social protection policy interventions to mitigate potential negative employment impacts. Crafting a quantifiable transition plan with a comprehensive set of policy measures necessitates robust micro-data-based empirical estimates of the coal mining workforce. In this paper, we use, for the first time, administrative tax data to measure the quantum of employment in the South African coal mining industry. Furthermore, we provide an employment, wage, and inequality profile of workers in the coal mining industry. Subcontracted employment within the coal mining industry has grown, now constituting nearly half of all jobs. The workforce is relatively young, requiring transition policies that prioritize skills development and job placement. Men comprise the bulk share of employees in the coal mining industry, although female participation has risen over time. Coal mining industry jobs are relatively well paid, with the average coal miner wage surpassing that of the average formal sector worker, thus making income support for displaced workers financially burdensome. Wage inequality within the coal mining industry is lower than wage inequality within the broader formal sector economy. Thus, should coal miners transition from jobs in the relatively low inequality coal mining industry, to jobs in high inequality industries, then it is possible that overall inequality will rise.

Keywords: Just Transition; coal mining; employment; earnings; South Africa Transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-12
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05507684v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05507684v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-05507684

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().