Since the national recession started in December 2007, West Virginia has lost 18,200 jobs or 2.4 percent of its job base. West Virginia’s job deficit – or the total number of jobs needed to keep pace with the working age population growth since the recession started – is about 25,600.
West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.6 percent in July, up 0.1 from June. Total July non-farm employment stands at 742,500, with a decline of 4,500 jobs from last month, with about two-thirds coming from seasonal losses in local government. The good news was a small gain of 300 jobs in manufacturing and mining. Despite this positive sign, West Virginia’s private sector has created only 700 jobs since last July – the date many believe to be the official end of the recession. Even more troubling is that 28,200 workers have left the labor force during this period.
While non-farm employment has been growing (ever so slightly) this year, the number of state residents employed continues to decline. In July, only 709,500 state residents were employed – its lowest point since March 1994 (seasonally adjusted). This helps explain, to some extent, why new j
obless claims still remain high.
The central reason why we’ve seen little in the way of economic expansion is a lack of consumer demand and the unwillingness of Congress to pass a larger, more serious, jobs creation package. Absent this action, the economic doldrums will continue here and around the country.
