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Kentucky has fewer coal jobs since Trump took office

Kentucky has fewer coal jobs today than when President Donald Trump took office two years ago.
Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks during a post-election press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on November 7, 2018.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Despite promises to reinvigorate the coal industry, Kentucky has fewer coal jobs today than when President Donald Trump took office two years ago.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that coal employment averaged 6,550 in Kentucky in the first quarter of 2017 when Trump was sworn in. The estimated average in the July-through-September quarter this year was 6,381. That's according to the state Energy and Environment Cabinet.

The number of coal jobs varies from quarter to quarter in Kentucky, but overall there has been no sustained increase. Numbers have remained far below 2011 when Kentucky coal jobs topped 18,000.

Nationally, there were about 1,900 more coal jobs in October than when Trump took office.

Studies have shown the biggest factor in the decline of coal is the rise in natural gas.

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