The authors examine the problem of optimizing the number of personnel in the coal industry of Russia during its restructuring. They show that a significant result of restructuring the Russian coal industry is the growth in labor productivity with a significant reduction of the number of employees. The factors affect the change in the processes associated with the release of the personnel at the coal enterprises, and the increase of productivity, by relevant stages of restructuring. The role of other regional institutions in the regulation of the problems associated with the optimization of the number of personnel at coal production enterprises is defined. The authors proposed a model to find optimal management decisions on personnel number optimization and maximization of labor productivity; they also determined the possibility of applying the model approach to research, analysis and forecasting of management decisions to optimize the number of personnel in other industries.