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Natural Resources and Mining

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
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

640 643 (p)640 (p)640

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

496 499 (p)501 (p)503

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

30 33 (p)28  

Hires

15 13 (p)23  

Separations

19 16 (p)31  

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
2022
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

234 204 218 247

Gross job losses

180 240 229 204

(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
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$38.63 $38.76 (p)$39.15 (p)$39.32

Average weekly hours

45.2 45.5 (p)44.6 (p)45.0

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$34.96 $35.66 (p)$36.07 (p)$36.57

Average weekly hours

48.1 47.9 (p)47.0 (p)47.6

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 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

704 593 552 531

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

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

Total recordable cases

3.1

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

2.0

Cases involving days away from work

1.2

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.8

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(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
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

144,334 (p)144,459 (p)145,046 (p)145,967

Local government

71 (p)71 (p)71 (p)71

State government

139 (p)139 (p)139 (p)139

Federal government

74 (p)74 (p)75 (p)75

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

35 33 35  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

34 34 34  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

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

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024