Arizona #1 for metal mining jobs

Arizona was #1 in metals mining jobs in 2007 and in the top 5 for all types of mining jobs, according to a new economic report commissioned by the National Mining Association.

The study also found that mining jobs on average pay $59,000 per year, which is 33% above the combined average salary for all industrial categories. In Arizona, the pay is $60,000, which is 44% higher than the average pay in the state.

The mining industry:

• Produced $98.4 billion of finished mineral, metal and fuel products, which were transformed into an additional $1.8 trillion in value added by other mineral, metal and coal consuming industries [right, from the report, based on data from USGS and DOE-EIA]
  
• Employed 376,310 workers in the 50 states
• Payroll was $22.1 billion
• Paid $4.4 billion in taxes on production and imports, which includes severance taxes, royalties, fees, property taxes and gross receipts taxes, etc., in 2006, the latest data available
• Paid $1.2 billion in federal royalties and other mineral revenues
• Paid $1.2 billion in federal corporate income taxes in 2005, according to the latest data available from the IRS

The metals mining industry, lead by Arizona, produced $25.1 billion of product in 2007, and employed more than 49,000 miners, including contractors. The study found that each job in the metal mining industry generates an additional 4.1 jobs elsewhere in the economy – a total of 5.1 jobs including the metal miners themselves. Thus, a total of 248,380 jobs were generated by U.S. metal mining. The jobs supported by the metal mining industry generated $12.5 billion in payroll (wages and salaries, including overtime and vacation/sick pay) and $4.2 billion in personal income and payroll taxes. So, the loss of 3,000 copper mining jobs in Arizona in recent months means more than 12,000 related jobs are being lost elsewhere along the chain, although not necessarily all in Arizona.

I’m reproducing the complete description of the mining in Arizona section here:

Mining in Arizona, 2007
The State of Arizona, home to 411 mining operations, provided direct employment to 18,480 people and another 34,360 people indirectly from mining activity occurring both in and outside the state for a total of 52,840 jobs statewide.

Mining jobs in Arizona are high paying – 44 percent higher than the average wage in the state. The average annual wage in the mining industry in Arizona was $60,000 in 2007. Total direct earnings from the State of Arizona’s mining payroll were $1,110 million. Including earnings from indirect economic activity from the mining industry in Arizona and elsewhere, a total of $2,520 million was earned by workers in Arizona. Income and payroll taxes from Arizona payrolls, including federal, state and local, and FICA totaled nearly $824 million.

Arizona mining operations created $7,600 million worth of mineral, metal and fuel products. The economic activity indirectly generated by the mining industry in Arizona and other states generated an additional $4,110 million in output from suppliers and other industries in Arizona. In total, $11,710 million in output was generated in Arizona by the mining industry.

American mining produces the critical raw materials necessary to the foundation of our economy. From the minerals and materials used in housing, automobiles and computers, to the mined coal and uranium that generates more than half our nation’s electricity.

Mining in the State of Arizona generates 1.6 percent of the state’s GDP.