If Trump Really Wanted to Creat Jobs He Would Promote Solar, Not Coal

But That Would Require Thinking and Reading on His Part - And That Ain't Gonna Happen

The coal industry is dying.  This is a natural death as progress in clean energy and concern for the environment have made coal fired electrical plants economically and operationally obsolete.  But in order to pretend to be friends of the victims of the demise of the coal industr and those employed in it, Trumpie put out the false claim that he could restore it to life.  He can't, it is dying.

But the good news is that one of the technologies that is taking the place of coal is labor intensive and that is where the jobs are being created.

There are now twice as many solar jobs as coal jobs in the US

Even though solar power still provides just a fraction of America’s electricity — about 1.3 percent — the industry now employs more than 260,000 people, according to a new survey from the nonprofit Solar Foundation. And it’s growing fast: Last year, the solar industry accounted for one of every 50 new jobs nationwide.

The chart below breaks it down by job type. The majority of solar jobs are in installation, with a median wage of $25.96 per hour. The residential market, which is the most labor-intensive, accounts for 41 percent of employment, the commercial market 28 percent, and the utility-scale market the rest:

So a concerned and honest President would be pushing solar, and working to offset the economic damage to the mining industry employees who through no fault of their own are suffering.  But as we say, that would required a concerned and honest President, not the one we have.