Effect of increases in energy-related labor forces upon retailing in Alabama
The heightened mining employment that will result from increased extraction of coal from Alabama's Warrior Coal Basin will boost retail sales and employment. The Warrior Coal Basin counties (Fayette, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Walker) are heavily dependent upon coal mining as a source of employment and wages. Further, since the counties' economies grew increasingly dependent upon coal mining activities throughout the 1970s, it was believed that it would be possible to measure, with some acceptable level of reliability, the impact of the steadily rising mining activity upon the area's retailing sector. Therefore, a small scale econometric model was developed which represents the interrelationships among income, mining and trade employment and retail sales in the four-county Warrior Coal Basin area. The results of two versions of the model are presented. In the first version, area-wide retail sales are treated in the aggregate. In the second version, retail sales are disaggregated into twelve categories (e.g., food, apparel, furniture, etc.). The models were specified using 1960 to 1976 data. The mining employment growth scenario used in this report called for steady increases in mining employment that culminated in an employment level that is 4000 above the baseline employment projections by 1985. Both versions of the model predicted that cumulative real regional income would increase by $1.39 billion over seven years with the added mining employment. The predicted impacts on trade employment and real retail sales varied between the two models, however. The aggregate model predicts the addition of 7500 trade workers and an additional $1.35 billion in real retail sales. The disaggregate model suggests that food stores, automobile dealers, general merchandise stores, gas stations and lumber and building materials retailers would enjoy the greatest positive benefits.
- Research Organization:
- Alabama Univ., University (USA). School of Mines and Energy Development
- OSTI ID:
- 5636107
- Report Number(s):
- NP-4900178; ON: DE84900178
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ALABAMA
COAL MINES
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC IMPACT
EMPLOYMENT
COAL PRODUCING DISTRICTS
ECONOMETRICS
INCOME
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
ECONOMICS
FEDERAL REGION IV
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MINES
NORTH AMERICA
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
USA
015000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
294001 - Energy Planning & Policy- Coal
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology