Natural Resources and Mining

About the Natural Resources and Mining supersector

The natural resources and mining supersector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

The natural resources and mining supersector consists of these sectors:

• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting: NAICS 11
• Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction: NAICS 21

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in natural resources and mining. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, job openings and labor turnover, gross job gains and losses, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series	Back data	Dec. 2008	Jan. 2009	Feb. 2009	Mar. 2009
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		789	781	(P) 772	(P) 754
Employment, production workers (seasonally adjusted)		591	589	(P) 580	(P) 561
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		17	20	(P) 10
Hires		18	28	(P) 19
Separations		29	45	(P) 23
Footnotes (P) Preliminary
The data in this table are for Mining and Logging only.

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2007	4th quarter 2007	1st quarter 2008	2nd quarter 2008
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		262	292	274	280
Gross job losses		274	261	293	268

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in natural resources and mining, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees are shown.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series	Back data	Dec. 2008	Jan. 2009	Feb. 2009	Mar. 2009
Average hourly earnings		$23.23	$23.14	(P) $23.12	(P) $23.30
Average weekly hours		44.3	44.2	(P) 44.0	(P) 43.2
Footnotes (P) Preliminary
The data in this table are for Mining and Logging only.

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in natural resources and mining. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series	2004	2005	2006	2007
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	825	878	858	772
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	5.3	5.1	4.9	4.4
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.1	2.9	2.7	2.5
Cases involving days away from work	2.0	1.8	1.7	1.6
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.8

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in natural resources and mining.

Establishments

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2007	1st quarter 2008	2nd quarter 2008	3rd quarter 2008
Number of establishments
Private industry		126,114	(P) 125,115	(P) 125,729	(P) 126,249
Local government		71	(P) 73	(P) 75	(P) 76
State government		138	(P) 143	(P) 143	(P) 144
Federal government		82	(P) 82	(P) 82	(P) 82
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		35	35	33
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		34	35	35
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: May 01, 2009