Natural Resources and Mining

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About the Natural Resources and Mining supersector

The natural resources and mining supersector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

The natural resources and mining supersector consists of these sectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in natural resources and mining. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, job openings and labor turnover, gross job gains and losses, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data		 Oct.
2011		 Nov.
2011		 Dec.
2011		 Jan.
2012

Employment (in thousands)

  

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)
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 810 814 (P) 822 (P) 832

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)
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 613 614 (P) 621 (P) 630

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

  

Job openings
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 19 23 (P) 34  

Hires
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 27 19 (P) 21  

Separations
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 23 19 (P) 28  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

The data in this table are for Mining and Logging only.

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data		 3rd quarter
2010		 4th quarter
2010		 1st quarter
2011		 2nd quarter
2011

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

  

Gross job gains
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 270 284 261 276

Gross job losses
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 267 278 260 259

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in natural resources and mining, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data		 Oct.
2011		 Nov.
2011		 Dec.
2011		 Jan.
2012

Average hourly earnings
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 $28.23 $28.24 (P) $28.38 (P) $28.20

Average weekly hours
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 45.4 44.3 (P) 45.2 (P) 45.7

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data		 Oct.
2011		 Nov.
2011		 Dec.
2011		 Jan.
2012

Average hourly earnings
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 $24.85 $24.87 (P) $24.82 (P) $24.82

Average weekly hours
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 47.5 47.0 (P) 48.1 (P) 48.3

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in natural resources and mining. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2007 2008 2009 2010

Fatalities

  

Number of fatalities

 772 858 680 (P) 773

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

  

Total recordable cases

 4.4 4.1 4.0 3.7

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

 2.5 2.5 2.2 2.2

Cases involving days away from work

 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.4

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in natural resources and mining.

Establishments

Data series Back
data		 3rd quarter
2010		 4th quarter
2010		 1st quarter
2011		 2nd quarter
2011

Number of establishments

  

Private industry
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 127,210 127,687 (P) 127,030 (P) 127,711

Local government
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 76 78 (P) 76 (P) 76

State government
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 144 143 (P) 140 (P) 140

Federal government
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 83 83 (P) 83 (P) 83

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

  

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)
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 34 34 34 34

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)
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 32 33 34 32

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: February 10, 2012