In 1920, coal mining industry employment peaked at 785,000. By 1980, that level was 228,000, the highest level since 1955. Employment then resumed its steady decline, and by 2000 was 72,000. It then slowly rose to a peak of 90,000 in early 2012. Since then it’s fallen dramatically and today coal mining employment is just 50,000. In 2008, for the first-time, the 85,000 wind industry jobs surpassed coal mining jobs.