The average number of employees in the one-year period ended March 31 fell 8.3% year-on-year to 79,658 employees, according to data from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.
According to analysis by SNL Energy, the number of people employed at coal mines in Q1 2014 was 76,012, the lowest number since Q1 2009.
The analysis shows that the number of workers in the coal sector fell by 1574 between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014.
The MSHA documented the rise and fall of the nation’s coal industry, showing the demise beginning in Q1 2009 when coal mine employment dropped consistently for just over a year before rebounding over the next two years to a near-term peak at the end of 2011.
Since coal mining employment hit the high of 93,084 jobs in Q4 2011, the industry had consistently posted quarterly declines in total employment, according to SNL.
The analysis excluded 33 mines that had not yet reported data for all the periods analysed.
Coal mining seems to be one of the only sectors not rebounding from the global financial crisis.
According to the US Department of Labor's recent jobs report, total non-farm employment rose by 217,000 jobs in May.
The report said the Clean Power Plan introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency had a lot to do with the decline in employment.
“While the EPA's newly proposed Clean Power Plan offers public health and climate benefits worth an estimated $US55 billion ($A58 million) per year to $93 billion per year in 2030 and a net increase in US jobs, it also projects significant declines in coal sector employment,” it said.
