In the state of Colorado, coal employment is one the rise. Not only has the product of coal increased in the state, so has employment, which has helped a large number of individuals with their attempts of finding work and also improving the economy too. The information as released by the Colorado Mining Association. Throughout the year, coal production had increased by about 6 percent, which helped Colorado to move on up in the ranking of the top coal-producing states in America. Colorado is now number nine on the list. With the increase in production, employment increased as well, by a whopping total of 13 percent. The state of Colorado now has around 2,504 miners, which was surely positive news.

And, while there was positive news, some people, particular officials for the state industry, are not as optimistic about what the future holds. The president of the CMA, Stuart Sanderson, said that there are certain market conditions that would obviously be affected by different types of weather conditions, specifically the warm winter, as well as the threat that always seems to be there, which is the possibility of a war on coal. In the meantime, it has been said that coal is considered the most important aspect of Northwest Colorado, even though there has been a tendency in the past to slow down on the production, even though coal has become one of the most increasingly popular sources of fuel to provide electricity. Within the next three years, it is only expected to increase even more in popularity and the amount of coal that is used for the fuel. One primary example of this is the Colowyo Coal Company, which is located in Moffat County. The company has seen a decline in production with each year that passes by, even though coal is so necessary. Representatives for the Colowyo Company have not been able to provide a public explanation as to why their production of coal has declined over the span of seven years. Several other companies, such as Twentymile Mine, have also managed to deal with some declines. However, the declines at Twentymile are not nearly as steep as those declines at Colowyo.

While coal production has declined in past years, the Twentymile Mine was still able to keep their staffing levels quit steady, employing around the same number of people throughout the years, which is important. Twentymile hit its peak for production back in 2005 and at that time, the company had 401 miners. In 2011, there were several more employees working for the company, a total of 445, regardless of the declines. All around the United States, the mining industry has been one of the only industries that has created a number of jobs since the recession occurred.