[jbb555]

As others have said "mining" is really not a good name for what is happening. What the miners are really doing is the work that is necessary to confirm and secure the transactions.

When they do that, if they are the first miner to come up with the values required to confirm the transaction they are allowed to add a transaction of their own which "transfers" some bitcoins from "nowhere" to them, thus getting rewarded for their work. it is this that incentivizes people to "mine" but it's not the purpose.