Jobs Frontier Policies Promote Mining, Job Growth

On Monday, E&E News reported on a new effort by legislators to strengthen U.S. mining and boost employment across the economy.

The Jobs Frontier report, issued last week by the Western Congressional Caucus, highlights policy actions that could put Americans back to work, including bills by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), and support increased access to domestic minerals.

The report notes that “outdated permitting practices and regulations make it hard for companies to hire workers to discover and produce America’s minerals.”

And when companies can’t produce America’s minerals, they invest in mining projects—and workforces—elsewhere in the world.

The E&E article also underscores the high-paying nature of careers in mining, and mentions a government statistic, often used by NMA, showing that the number of domestic mining jobs grew more than 5 percent between June 2010 and June of this year. And that statistic doesn’t factor in the thousands of jobs indirectly supported by mining, such as those at equipment suppliers like Swanson Industries:

“… Tom DeWitt, president and CEO of Swanson Industries, which specializes in equipment for mining, says a stronger industry means more jobs at the firm. In an interview, he said Swanson had more than 800 employees, having grown 67 percent in employment over the last decade.

DeWitt said, ‘What I hope to convey is the importance of the mining industry for jobs in every state that we have operations.'” – E&E News