Don't believe the hype. Coal employs fewer people than McDonald's | Ben Oquist

If Tony Abbott wants to focus on jobs, he has to abandon his obsession with coal - a capital intensive industry that creates fewer jobs than the horse industry

The prime minister has repeatedly said that the next election should be about jobs. He has attempted to kick-start a new "economy versus environment" strategy in relation to a coal mining. According to the ABS a huge 0.3% of Australians are currently employed in coal mining. If the coal industry trebled in size tomorrow it still wouldn't be enough to create jobs for the extra 101,900 people who have become unemployed since Tony Abbott became prime minister.

Anyone who has ever seen an open cut coal mine will understand why they don't create a lot of jobs. Work that was once done by men with picks and shovels is now done by explosives and enormous machines. Economists call such industries "capital intensive" which is another way of saying "doesn't create many jobs".