Ohio coal: How many jobs?

As angry bipartisan crowds of Ohio politicians gather to defend "our coal jobs" from the US EPA's proposed new rules for coal power plants, it's worth noting just how many jobs we're talking about.

Here's how many, courtesy of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services Labor Market Information site:

Yes, those are the actual numbers -- no zeros have been omitted.

(It's off topic, but note the increase in Ohio coal employment during the "Obama war on coal" years.)

Another 4,000-5,000 Ohioans work at fossil-fueled power plants, mostly operated by the utilities. Can't tell from the LMI figures how many of those jobs are at coal-fired plants,  but the state has almost as many utility generating sites fueled by natural gas as by coal these days.

So estimating generously, Ohio might have as many as 7,000 actual "coal jobs".

(For perspective: Total jobs in the state -- about 5.4 million. Total unemployed in the state as of April -- 328,000. At least 46 individual companies -- retailers, banks, health systems, manufacturers, universities -- had more than 7,000 Ohioans on their payrolls in 2013.)