New Working Paper: “The End of Coal: Labor Market Transitions in Coal-Dependent Regions”

We are pleased to announce that EnergyEconLab is today posting the paper “The End of Coal: Labor Market Transitions in Coal-Dependent Regions” by Fabra, N., Gutiérrez, E., and Ramos, R. as Working Paper [EEL Working Paper 2026-007].

Studying the end of coal-fired generation in Spain, the authors find that plant closures reduced local employment and population but paradoxically lowered unemployment, as outmigration—concentrated among working-age residents—left behind an older, poorer population; displaced workers were significantly more likely to relocate toward areas with renewable investment, especially within a 100 km radius. Social Security microdata further show a rise in direct job-to-job transitions from thermal to renewable electricity generation, indicating that renewable expansion offers a partial, though geographically bounded, channel for labor reallocation.