Employment / Wages by County
 
Coal County Employment and Wages, 2004

County1

Direct Mining
Employment

% of
Labor
Force

Miners as % of Total
Employed

Mining
Wages

% of Total County
Wages

Average Weekly
Mining
Earnings3

EASTERN KENTUCKY

Bell

941

9.9

10.6

$ 35,363,577

15.2

$ 722.71

Clay

44

0.6

0.6

1,741,637

1.8

761.20

Floyd

574

3.9

4.2

23,244,536

6.9

778.76

Harlan

1,220

12.0

12.9

63,073,583

27.0

994.22

Johnson

135

1.4

1.5

5,838,122

3.7

831.64

Knott

1,481

22.8

24.3

80,568,209

57.9

1,046.18

Knox

66

0.6

0.6

2,300,617

1.2

670.34

Laurel

129

0.5

0.5

5,645,461

0.9

841.60
Lawrence

58

1.0

1.1

2,585,094

3.2

857.13

Leslie

494

13.7

14.9

27,617,455

39.8

1,075.11

Letcher

944

10.6

11.5

36,718,975

21.5

748.02

Magoffin

55

1.2

1.4

1,647,941

0.3

576.20

Martin

633

17.2

18.6

33,190,021

40.5

1,008.32

Perry

1,528

14.0

15.2

81,527,395

21.4

1,026.07

Pike

3,942

16.5

17.7

198,932,925

28.3

970.48

Whitley

10

0.1

0.1

250,430

0.1

481.60

Subtotal

12,254

-

-

$ 600,245,978

-

$ 941.99

E. Ky. Total2

12,486

-

-

$ 613,920,104

-

$ 945.55

Fayette and

Note: The direct mining employment classification does not include most of the administrative/professional employees of coal companies located in these Kentucky metropolitan areas and does not include any private services or indirect employment.

Jefferson Counties

WESTERN KENTUCKY

Henderson

318

1.4

1.5

21,285,498

3.2

1,287.22

Hopkins

893

4.0

4.2

54,479,551

10.5

1,173.22

Muhlenberg

250

1.9

2.1

16,919,140

7.5

1,301.47

Union

565

7.7

8.0

30,582,220

20.1

1,040.92

Webster

162

2.5

2.6

8,796,184

10.7

1,044.18

Subtotal

2,188

-

-

$  132,062,593

-

$ 1,160.72

W. Ky. Total2

2,293

-

-

$  136,264,425

-

$ 1,142.81

State Total2

15,012

-

-

$  758,961,573

-

$  972.25

  1. Counties with less than three employers or one employer with 80% of the total county miner work force were withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data. The counties are as follows: Boyd, Breathitt, Daviess, Fayette, Greenup, Jefferson, Lee, McCreary, McLean, Mason, Menifee and Ohio.  It is suspected that multi-county mining employment attributes to some counties being under reported and others being over reported.

  2. Columns do not add to the  EKY & WKY totals due to withheld data and do not equal state totals due to county of employment being reported outside of coal field.

  3. Variation in average weekly mining income affected greatly by hours worked per week as well as hourly wage rate.

Values and methodologies used in this table may not be consistent with LGEDF regulations (see Coal Taxes Returned to Counties). Do not use these values for LGEDF estimates.