Publication: Towards a Just Coal Transition Labor Market Challenges and People’s Perspectives from Silesia
Date
2022
ISSN
Published
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Part of a three-region set of papers
analyzing coal-related labor market challenges in Poland,
this paper focuses on Silesia. The findings call for a more
territorial-oriented approach to brokering the coal
transition, rather than a sectoral one. First, the number of
jobs directly linked to coal-mining in Silesia is
substantial, with 72,000 employees in the mining
conglomerates, and an additional 17,000 providing goods and
services to the mines. Second, coal-related employment is
heavily concentrated geographically: as much as 40 percent
of the population of Bieruńsko-Iedziński is employed
directly and indirectly in the mining sector, and 80 percent
of the mining conglomerates' contract value goes to
subcontractors within a 20km radius of the mines. Third, the
coal sector is highly integrated among a few large firms: 28
percent of the indirect workforce is employed by 10
subcontractors. Fourth, workers in the mining conglomerates
have lower foundational (but better technical) skills than
their regional and national counterparts, especially those
with lower education. Finally, while eager to work, discrete
choice experiments about their job attribute preferences
show that they are averse to both, commuting and relocating
for work, even though less so than in Wielkopolska, yet more
so that in Lower Silesia, the two other regions. Together
this suggests that there are important welfare and political
economic benefits to adequate job creation locally. The
paper further advances a data-driven viable-job-matching
tool specifically tailored to the Polish labor market and
illustrates how it could be used to assess the potential of
local labor markets and future investments to absorb the
coal-affected workers accounting for their skills profile,
re/upskilling needs, and job attribute preferences.
Citation
“Christiaensen, Luc; Ferré, Céline; Gajderowicz, Tomasz; Ruppert Bulmer, Elizabeth; Wrona, Sylwia. 2022. Towards a Just Coal Transition Labor Market Challenges and People’s Perspectives from Silesia. Jobs Working Papers;No. 70. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/38119 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”