ECONOMIY AND THE UK MINERS' STRIKE 25 The Impact on Individual Pits These calculations for the costs of closure can be carried out on the data for the 166 pits operating prior to the strike, using the financial results of each pit reported by the NCB, and detailed estimates of the cost to government revenue (some £ 140 per week) of redundant miners. The results are devastating. Whilst 103 pits are shown as reporting operating losses over this period, in not one case would cipsure have benefited government revenue. That is, on our calculations of the impact on and costs of unemployment, in every single case the "subsidy" from the government required to cover the pit's reported operating deficit is less than what the government would lose in the form of dole payments, tax foregone and costs attributed to the pit which would not be saved. This can be illustrated with the examples of pits which were immediately under threat at the beginning of the strike. Losses to Government from Closure £ per miner per week If colliery was closed, cost of government revenue would be Present level of subsidy to keep pit open was So to close pit means net loss to govt. of Herrington Cortonwood Bullcliffe Wood Snowdown 281 295 467 260 82 14 251232 199 221 21628 Note : The reason that the estimates of costs of closure in column (1) vary between pits is that the higher are costs other than miners' pay the greater is the impact on other industries and thus the greater the costs of closure per miner affected. On these estimates only three pits would have shown a gain to government revenue from being kept open, of less than £ 100 per week per miner. Three of the pits actually threatened with immediate closure would have cost the .government around £ 200 per week more per miner to close than to keep open. So not only do the miners and other workers directly and indirectly affected benefit from keeping their jobs, but the rest of society also gains from the pits being kept open as the "subsidy" required is less^ than the costs of maintaining the workers concerned on the dole. The value of the coal produced makes every pit "economic" once the interests of the miners and other workers affected, together with those of the rest of society, are taken into account. The Unemployment Assumption The only way the basic conclusion of these calculations could be: