Biden says coal miners could easily learn computer coding, but retraining programs for them can be problematic

Biden speaks in Exeter, N.H., Dec. 30. (AP photo by Charles Krupa)

On Dec. 30, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said at a rally that coal miners could easily learn computer coding, Alexandra Kelley reports for The Hill. "Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well," Biden said in Derry, N.H. "Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God’s sake!" (Note to the former vice president and Pennsylvania native: Coal miners don't throw coal into furnaces.)

The remark fit Biden's proposal to reduce Americans' reliance on fossil fuels while helping coal-mining communities develop other sources of income. Retraining programs for miners have received bipartisan support, but they have a "questionable record of success," Kelley reports. "Some displaced coal workers do transition into other fields or industries, but critics say that the jobs that former coal workers usually find tend to pay only $12 to $15 per hour as opposed to the approximate $75,000 a year salary that coal workers had while working in the mines."

Some careers for which miners retrain have few jobs in their local areas, and some miners say they don't retrain because they hope the coal industry will rebound. "Some miners, especially older ones, find it too daunting to learn a complicated new trade later in life," Kelley reports.

For instance, in a Blackjewel miners' Facebook group, one miner commented on Biden's remark: "Yeah learn to program my azz. I’ll soon be 60 years old and can’t find a job. Even told at one grocery store the position was filled by a younger person." Other comments were overwhelmingly negative, reflecting general offense and a sense that Biden was disrespecting or undervaluing the contributions of coal miners. But "the need for a solution for coal miners continues," Kelley writes. "Although the industry added 4,500 jobs from 2016 to 2018, U.S. coal production decreased by 10 percent in 2019 and jobs are at risk."

UPDATE, Jan. 6: Another Democratic candidate, millionaire businessman Andrew Yang, posted a YouTube video saying that turning coal miners into coders is not the answer to automation, because of the growing advance of artificial intelligence.