Trump boasts about 'the first new coal mine of the Trump era' even though it employs fewer people than the average supermarket
Throughout 2016, President Trump assured the coal industry that "we will put our miners back to work." On Monday, he took the opportunity to celebrate the opening of the Acosta mine, in Pennsylvania, the so-called "first new coal mine of the Trump era."
Only what Trump didn't exactly say is that the "first new coal mine of the Trump era" employs significantly fewer people than a single American supermarket, Quartz reports.
Based on numbers provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American supermarket employs 92 people. The Acosta mine, which opened in June, will only employ 70 people for the time being. More than 400 people applied for those scarce positions.
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The Los Angeles Times reports the mine should eventually generate up to 100 full time jobs. Still, it's not too great a victory for Trump; the plans for the mine "were made well before his election," the Times writes, despite the president "taking partial credit for the opening."
