In the US, the solar panel industry employs more workers than coal mines.

Photovoltaics, solar panels are no surprise now. Companies that develop and install solar panels are becoming more and more. The largest solar farms are commissioned, new types of photocells are being created, which are much more efficient than the previous ones.

There are more people working in the solar panel industry than a couple of years ago. The other day on the Web there was information that more people work in the "solar" industry than in coal mines (this is only about statistics for the United States).
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Thus, the publication Politfact compared several sources of information at once, checking this data. And it turned out that everything converges. However, it is clarified that the calculations are made without taking into account people who are engaged in transportation and logistics of coal mines, only "real" workers of the coal industry are taken into account.

Another clarification - the data given at the end of 2013. Then, according to the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit organization, 142,698 people were employed in the solar panel industry. This organization received information through a survey of companies engaged in the production of panels (74 thousand phone calls were made and 11 thousand e-mails were sent).

As for the coal industry, the data were taken from the report of the specialized body - US Mine Safety and Health Administration. The organization’s report said that the number of jobs in the coal industry was 123227.

Actually, you should not count and recalculate all these data - the statistics are shown only to give an idea of ​​the size of the “solar” industry, which is becoming more extensive, occupying new niches and gaining new opportunities and technologies.