More solar workers in the US solar panel industry than coal mines

Photocells, solar panels now will not surprise anyone. Companies that are developing and installing solar panels are becoming more and more. The largest solar farms are being commissioned, new types of solar cells are being created, which are much more effective than the previous ones.

The solar panel industry now employs far more people than a couple of years ago. The other day, information appeared on the Web that more people are working in the "solar" industry than in coal mines (we are talking only about statistics for the USA).

So, Politfact Editioncompared several sources of information at once, checking this data. And it turned out that everything fits together. True, a clarification is being made that the calculations are made without taking into account people who are involved in the transportation and logistics of coal mine products, only the “real” coal industry workers are taken into account.

Another clarification - the data are presented at the end of 2013. Then, according to the non-profit organization Solar Foundation, 142698 people were employed in the solar panel industry. This organization received information through a survey of panel manufacturing companies (74 thousand phone calls were made and 11 thousand e-mails were sent).

As for the coal industry, the data was takenfrom the report of the relevant authority - US Mine Safety and Health Administration. The organization’s report said that the number of jobs in the coal industry is 123227.

Actually, you should not count and recount all these data - statistics are shown only to give an idea of ​​the size of the “solar” industry, which is becoming more extensive, occupying new niches and gaining new opportunities and technologies.