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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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	635	636	(p)638	(p)640
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	489	488	(p)486	(p)485
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	24	24	(p)29
Hires	20	23	(p)20
Separations	20	20	(p)21
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	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains	252	223	207	230
Gross job losses	207	219	242	223

(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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$39.70	$39.87	(p)$39.99	(p)$40.26
Average weekly hours	44.6	44.3	(p)44.4	(p)44.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$36.36	$36.48	(p)$36.37	(p)$36.48
Average weekly hours	46.9	46.7	(p)47.0	(p)46.4
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	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.0
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.9
Cases involving days away from work	1.2
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.7
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	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	145,529	145,954	(p)145,958	(p)146,662
Local government	73	73	(p)74	(p)74
State government	139	139	(p)137	(p)137
Federal government	75	75	(p)75	(p)75
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)	33	36	33
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)	34	35	34
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

Data extracted on: December 13, 2024