ANALYSIS: PlayStation more useful than a pickaxe in modern coal mines
But US President Donald Trump pushed a powerful nostalgia button for blue-collar workers who yearn for an era of greater certainty, writes Tim Loh
New York — While on the campaign trail in West Virginia last year, Donald Trump donned a hardhat and pantomimed digging coal with a shovel. The coal miners in the audience would soon be back to work, he promised: "Get ready, because you are going to be working your asses off." The only problem: coal miners no longer swing a pickax or wield a shovel. While coal companies are hiring again, executives are starting to search for workers who can crunch gigabytes of data or use a joystick to manoeuvre mining vehicles hundreds of kilometres away. "If you do PlayStation, you can run a 300-ton truck," said Douglas Blackburn, a fourth-generation miner himself who runs the industry consultancy Blackacre. For an industry once notorious for its risks, "the worst that can happen is you sprain a thumb". The trend towards fewer workers, of course, is nothing new. The heyday of coal employment came in 1923, when the US industry — then reliant on labourers with hand tools, blast powder and oil lamps ...
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