By Fahima Paghmani

September 4, 2019 - During President Trump's campaign, he promised to put coal miners back to work. News 3 has been looking at the numbers. Since Trump has been in office, coal mining employment has grown from about 51,000 to 53,000 positions.

ACT Resources held an underground mining job fair in Harrisburg.

Sherry Schnell from ACT Resources Staffing drove down from Evansville to conduct interviews, take applications, and answer questions, "We do job fairs throughout the tri-state for surface mines and underground." 

The agency is taking inexperienced and experienced workers at their different locations in Southern Illinois and Indiana.

Schnell says the coal industry has had its highs and lows during the past few years, "Fifteen years it was pretty great. Obama came in and there was a little bit of a scare... There was some decline for sure. Trump came back in and now we've been on the rise."

However, because of the way the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures employment, the BLS economists have not been able to say whether employment actually rose or fell significantly throughout much of the last two years. Instead, they usually say employment held steady.

But Schnell says from what she's noticed, Trump has taken steps to ease regulations on the coal industry, reversing the trend under the Obama administration.

If you are interested in applying for a position, you can do so by clicking here.