In aggregate, covered employment and wages classified in Mining increased for the second consecutive year. On a pro-forma basis, Mining employment and wages continue to decline as they have every year since the oil bust of the early eighties. The Mining Division added 86 jobs and total wages increased by $14.7 million.

The largest sector within Mining is Oil and Gas Extraction, which had 7,852 jobs on an annual average basis in 1998. The increase of 70 jobs was the first in a number of years. Employment classified in Oil and Gas Extraction would have declined if not for an increase of 126 jobs in Denver County. Within Oil and Gas Extraction, the largest segment is Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas with 4,635 employees, which is a decrease of 22 jobs. Over seventy percent of these jobs are in Denver County with an average annual wage of $73,085. The remaining 1,310 jobs that were not in Denver County had an average annual wage of $55,333. The second largest sector is Oil and gas field services, NEC with 1,934 jobs. Eighty-one percent of these jobs were outside of the Denver MSA with an average annual salary of $38,119. The 19 percent that were within the Denver MSA had an average salary of 53,494.

For the second consecutive year, the fastest growing sector within the Mining division is Mining and Quarrying of Nonmetallic Minerals, Except Fuels. This disproportionate increase is attributable to the drastic increase in construction activity in Colorado. The increase was 10.7 percent to 1,694 jobs. The majority of the increase was in Construction Sand and Gravel, which was up by 132 jobs to 918. The second largest increase was classified in Miscellaneous Nonmetallic Minerals with an increase of 27 jobs to 219. One hundred of these jobs were in Arapahoe County. Dimension Stone employment increased by 26 jobs to 169 and Crushed and Broken Granite employment increased by 10 jobs to 47.

Employment classified in Coal Mining decreased by 51 jobs after increasing by 53 the previous year. There were 2,177 jobs with an average annual wage of $61,901 in 1998. The Denver MSA contained 9.4 percent of the employment and 21.2 of the wages classified in Coal Mining.

Metal Mining employment declined by 95 jobs to average 2,265 in 1998. The largest decline occurred in Gold Ores, which was down by 111 jobs to 851. Only 309 of these jobs were outside of the Denver MSA. The average salary outside of the Denver MSA was $41,562 versus $131,232 within the MSA. The second largest sector within Metal mining was Ferroalloy Ores, Except Vanadium with 665 jobs. The second largest decline was in Metal Mining Services with a decline of 57 jobs to average 217 in 1998.