The number of coal mining jobs in the Hunter Valley are at the highest they’ve been in nearly a decade.
Coal Services latest data shows there were 14,382 coal mining jobs in December 2022 just in the Hunter Valley which is the highest end-of-year result in eight years, notwithstanding a slightly higher result in October 2022.
Across NSW the data shows jobs on a whole are at a ten-year high with 23,850 direct coal mining jobs in NSW in December 2022, the highest end of year result since 2012.
The job numbers have come back a long way since the downturn in the industry in 2014 – in July 2014, coal mining jobs in the Hunter were just over 14,000 but those figures had fallen to 12,600 by the end of that year due to the mining downturn.
NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee said the recovery in coal mining jobs in NSW was a sign of the ongoing importance and resilience of the NSW coal sector.
“In addition to these nearly 24,000 coal mining jobs, the industry also supports the jobs of thousands more people in around 7,000 local businesses in NSW that supply our mining operations.”
“Whoever forms government following the state election will need to ensure the right policies are in place to support our world-class coal mining sector into the future,” Mr Galilee said.