The Washington Post’s Fact Checker article Pruitt’s claim that ‘almost 50,000 jobs’ have been gained in coal includes links to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for each of their three screen shots of spreadsheets that back up their statements. The article notes:
In the last four months of the Obama administration, September to January, there was a gain of 1,400 jobs. In the first four months of the Trump administration, there has been a gain of 1,000 jobs.
While not part of the article, the graph here from the BLS is seasonally adjusted coal mining jobs since 1985. Interestingly there was a drastic decline in coal mining jobs from 1985 until about 2000.
