Democratic presidential candidate and former US vice president Joe Biden ordered unemployed miners, especially those in the coal sector, to learn how to code so that they could gain access to jobs in the future.
According to a Washington Post reporter, Dave Weigel, at a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, Biden said that if miners could go underground 3,000 feet or throw coal into an oven, they would certainly learn how to program.
Biden's comments come at a time when natural gas occupied a significant share of the market, which was previously dominated by coal, and when coal production continued to decline. At the same time, when exporting coal from the United States to Asia and Europe, there are a number of checkpoints imposed by cities and cities that decided to limit the supply of fossil fuels from their ports.
The comments of the former vice president were not well received, even in his own party. Brianna Wu, a MA 8 member of the House of Representatives and a software engineer, tweeted that Biden’s comment does not seem to fit the needs of miners who have lost their jobs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September 2019, 53,300 people were employed in coal mines, far below the 79,400 people employed in the sector ten years ago.
This is not the first time Biden has made comments that cast doubt on his connection with the realities of unemployed Americans.
After a presidential debate on December 19, a Washington examiner published an article entitled "Is Joe Biden trying to lose his rust belt?" After the Democratic candidate did not specify how, if elected, his government would provide opportunities, workers in the energy and mining sectors are switching to high-paying jobs as the US is pushing for a green economy.
