During the 1980s and early 1990s the UK coal industry shed more than 90% of its workforce. In this paper we explore the consequences for different coalfields and individual districts by means of comprehensive ‘labour-market accounts’. The impact of job loss on recorded unemployment shows remarkably little variation, but this disguises considerably greater diversity in other labour-market flows. There is evidence that much unemployment has become ‘hidden’ and that the disparities between areas are much larger than official figures suggest.
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