During the 1970's, German coal production ceased to be competitve on the world market due to increasing production costs. Coal mining (along with steel production) was the main industry, especially in the Ruhr area of West Germany. To cushion the mass layoffs associated with the closure of coal mines, the government installed a massive subsidy program in order to smoothly phase out of coal production over an expected period of around 40 years. 

In this research, Dr Jörg Lingens uses administrative labour market data to document the career path of individuals that were exposed to the closure of mines and tries to understand the wage and the re-employment effects of these individuals. In addition to this, he aims to understand how young individuals that entered these 'regional' labour markets at times of mine closure were affected compared to similar individuals in other regions. This research hopes to learn something about the currently discussed phase out from lignite mining, and the associated shut down of lignite fired power plants in Germany.