China’s coal companies are so desperate, they’ve started farming to keep employees busy

Downsizing China’s coal industry isn’t going to be easy for Beijing, which is trying to trim overcapacity nationwide to make the economy more efficient.

China’s government aims to cut capacity in coal mining by 9% over the next three to five years, and the Ministry of Human Resources announced huge layoffs in February of 1.3 million workers at state-owned coal companies (along with another 500,000 in steel sector) to meet that goal. Already, coal workers in the northeast staged days-long protests to demand unpaid wages, as their employer runs out of money.

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