By Courtney Schlisserman

January 23, 2021 - US coal miners shed about 7,000 jobs in 2020 as the industry only partially recovered from disruptions tied to the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coal mining employment in December stood at 44,100 on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to preliminary estimates released by the US Labor Department earlier this month. It had been 51,100 in both December 2019 and January 2020.

December's estimate, if finalized, would mean the industry lost jobs for a second straight year and had 6,800 fewer people employed at the end of former president Donald Trump's tenure than when he started in January 2017. Employment was flat to slightly higher over the first two years Trump was in office amid a recovery in export markets that lasted from the middle of 2016 through most of 2018.

Labor Department estimates without seasonal adjustments paint only a slightly better picture. On that basis, coal mine employment stood at an estimated 44,700 last month, compared with 51,100 in January 2020 and 51,000 in January 2017.

Analysts are expecting US coal demand and production to increase this year as tight natural gas supply pushes up prices for the competing generation fuel and global economies recover from pandemic-related disruptions. Coal exports are also expected to improve, but producers so far are reluctant to respond.

Coal production for 1-16 January was an estimated 24.6mn short tons (22.3mn metric tonnes), compared with 28.9mn st a year earlier, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). And some producers have said they are more likely to add days to a crew's shift if demand improves rather than bring in an entirely new crew.

Reflecting expectations of limited employment gains for this coming year, EIA earlier this month projected coal miner productivity will dip in 2021 to an average 6.32st/hour from an estimated 6.37st/hour last year even though the agency expects production to increase by 12pc from a 55-year low in 2020.

Coal mining employment in December on a seasonally adjusted basis was just 2,200 above the record low set in April 2020, when early stages of the pandemic prompted producers to shut or scale back operations to try to balance supply with market demand. Between May and November, employment was in the range of 44,000-45,900.

Surface coal mining employment has struggled more to recover than underground mining, Labor Department data show. The agency estimated that employment at bituminous and lignite surface coal mines, which is reported with a two-month lag, was a record low 18,900 in both October and November. Employment at bituminous and anthracite underground mines was an estimated 25,600 in November, a 4,100 increase from April 2020.