--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/research/productivity-trends-in-the-coal-mining-industry-in-canada/" title: "Productivity Trends in the Coal Mining Industry in Canada" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-02T13:59:54+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-02T13:59:54+00:00" post_type: "research" summary: "" post_tag: - "Canada" - "coal mining" - "natural resources" - "price effects" - "productivity" - "surface mining" - "technology" country_focus: - "Canada" province_region: - "National" research_theme: - "Productivity and Economic Measurement" - "Sector/Industry Analysis" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/old-reports_hero_banner_bg.webp" status: "publish" --- # Productivity Trends in the Coal Mining Industry in Canada Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/research/productivity-trends-in-the-coal-mining-industry-in-canada/ # Productivity Trends in the Coal Mining Industry in Canada [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2004-07-1.pdf) Cite this report × Cite this report as: Smith, Jeremy. 2004. “Productivity Trends in the Coal Mining Industry in Canada.” CSLS Research Report 2004-07. Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards. https://csls.ca/research/productivity-trends-in-the-coal-mining-industry-in-canada/ ## Author: - Jeremy Smith Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## Report 2004-07 October 2004 43 pages ## Related research [Measuring the Appropriate Outcomes for Better Decision-Making: A Framework to Guide the Analysis of Health Policy Matthew Calver March 2016 | Report 2016-03 | 132 pages](https://csls.ca/research/measuring-the-appropriate-outcomes-for-better-decision-making-a-framework-to-guide-the-analysis-of-health-policy-2016-03/) [Living Standards Domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Andrew Sharpe, Christopher Ross November 2011 | Report 2011-17 | 124 pages](https://csls.ca/research/living-standards-domain-of-the-canadian-index-of-wellbeing-2011-17/) [Productivity: Key to Economic Success Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) March 1998 | Report 1998-01 | 99 pages](https://csls.ca/research/productivity-key-to-economic-success/) [Apprenticeship in Canada: A Training System Under Siege? 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It is found that real price movements have had a substantial impact on productivity growth in the coal mining industry in Canada. The real price of coal increased sharply in the 1970s due to higher demand caused by the oil price shock. This increased the profitability of sites of marginal quality and thereby lead to operations on less productive sites than those in production at that point. This had the effect of lowering the average productivity of the overall industry. However, since the 1970s, the real price of coal has fallen steadily, reversing this effect and hence contributing to the high productivity growth of the 1980s and 1990s. Another factor in this impressive productivity performance, at least in the 1980s, was the gradual closing of underground coal mines and the concentration of production on open surface mines. Surface mines typically have higher levels of labour productivity than underground mines, so this effect reinforced the price effect in increasing the average productivity of the industry. The 1990s saw the computerization of several stages of the production process, from site planning to extraction. Despite having the image of an old-fashioned industry, the coal mining industry in Canada is actually among the most intensive users of advanced technologies, and this certainly appears to have contributed to the industry’s strong productivity performance as well. L’objectif de ce rapport est de cerner les facteurs expliquant la très forte performance de l’industrie canadienne de l’extraction du charbon en matière de productivité au cours des quatre dernières décennies. On constate que les variations du prix réel ont eu une incidence substantielle sur la croissance de la productivité de cette industrie au Canada. Le prix réel du charbon a augmenté fortement dans les années 1970 en raison d’une demande accrue causée par le choc pétrolier. Cela a accru la rentabilité des sites de qualité marginale, entraînant l’exploitation de sites moins productifs que ceux en production à ce moment-là. Cela a eu pour effet de réduire la productivité moyenne de l’ensemble de l’industrie. Toutefois, depuis les années 1970, le prix réel du charbon a chuté de façon constante, inversant cet effet et contribuant ainsi à la forte croissance de la productivité observée dans les années 1980 et 1990. Un autre facteur de cette performance impressionnante de la productivité, du moins dans les années 1980, a été la fermeture progressive des mines de charbon souterraines et la concentration de la production sur les mines à ciel ouvert. Les mines à ciel ouvert affichent généralement des niveaux de productivité du travail plus élevés que les mines souterraines, ce qui a renforcé l’effet de prix dans l’augmentation de la productivité moyenne de l’industrie. Les années 1990 ont vu l’informatisation de plusieurs étapes du processus de production, de la planification du site à l’extraction. Malgré son image d’industrie désuète, l’industrie de l’extraction du charbon a connu une croissance de la productivité remarquable. [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2004-07-1.pdf)