Coal Mining Jobs Drop 15 Percent In Eastern Kentucky In First Half Of 2019

CUMBERLAND, KENTUCKY - AUGUST 25: Worshippers chat outside of Gilliam Chapel Baptist Church following Sunday evening service on August 25, 2019 in Cumberland, Kentucky. Cumberland, in Harlan County, the heart Eastern Kentucky's coal region, has lost nearly half of it's population since 1980 primarily due to disappearing coal jobs. The region has lost more than 15 percent of its mining jobs in the past year and less than a third of the coal jobs remain from a decade ago. Recently, more than 300 miners from the Blackjewel LLC mining operations in Cumberland lost their jobs when the company declared bankruptcy and sent the miners home without paying them for their last three weeks of work. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)