Although the smallest of the economic types with only 146 counties, this type accounted for nearly half of nonmetro mining jobs.
The 146 counties classified as mining-dependent accounted for nearly half of the 389,000 nonmetro mining jobs in 1989. County earnings from mining activities ranged from 15 to 79 percent of total earnings during the 3-year period 1987-89. Mining represented 29 percent of total earnings in the average mining county in 1989. The counties in the mining category are quite heterogeneous because of distinct specializations in different types of miningactivities. The group includes counties located in the coal-producing areas of Appalachia and the Midwest, the gas and oil-producing areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisana, and the Northern Plains States, and in the metal mining areas of the West (fig. 3). Over 50 percent of the counties are in the South, and an additional 30 percent in the West. Located at natural resources sites, most of the counties are remote from metro areas, although the need for workers has created an average county population twice that for farming counties.
Mining counties, irrespective of region, lost population through outmigration during the 1980's. Southern mining counties had the highest rate of outmigration. Mining counties had, on average, a higher share of Hispanic population and a higher unemployment rate than all-nonmetro counties.
The mining sector as a whole did not fare well during the 1980's. During 1981-85, domestic crude oil prices dropped nearly 30 percent; other energy prices also fell. Mining counties as a group experienced the greatest economic decline of all the economic types during the 1980's. The drop in mining earnings also pulled down total earnings (table 2). Beginning in 1982, mining jobs maintained a downward spiral throughout the decade. By 1989, the number of mining jobs had reached a low of 72 percent of its 1979 figure (fig. 4). Improved productivity per worker also curtailed employment. Some growth in the services and government sectors lessened the decline in total jobs.
Counties in the group, however, did not share equally in the decline. While slightly under half of the counties had economies that performed poorly during the 1980's, over half of the counties gained in total jobs, and 13 percent had a job growth rate faster than the U. S. average. Even counties with job growth may face an uncertain future if solutions are not found to help them deal with recurring problems associated with the volatility of energy prices and with the inevitability of resource depletion, such as has happened in Appalachia.
Table 2--Mining-dependent counties:
Selected characteristics
Mining All-
counties nonmetro
Item Unit Counties
------------------------- --------- -------- --------
Counties Number 146 2,276
Population,1990 Thousands 2,847 50,898
Totally rural,1993(1,2) Percent 33.6 34.0
Population density,1990(3,4) Number 31.8 36.3
Population change,1980-90(4) Percent -.6 .6
Per capita income,1989(4) Dollars 13,081 13,580
Earnings change,1979-89:(5)
Total earnings Percent -16.0 3.4
Mining earnings do. -31.9 -36.9
(1) No persons living in towns of 2,500 population or more.
(2) Percentage of counties in group.
(3) Persons per square mile.
(4) Unweighted county averages.
(5) Calculated from aggregated data.
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