Charleston Gazette-Mail – In the past six months, unemployment in West Virginia has risen dramatically, according to survey data collected by Workforce West Virginia and the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Read
According to the most recent numbers, around 57,500 — 7.4 percent — of West Virginia’s residents that are seeking work find themselves without a job.
The June unemployment statistics, which were released last week, make the sixth month in a row that West Virginia has seen its unemployment rate rise. The state now has the highest rate of unemployment in the United States and stands in contrast to many other parts of the country, where employment numbers are rebounding from the Great Recession, when unemployment rates hovered around 9 percent nationally.
While the data based off surveys isn’t foolproof, the six-month uptick in unemployment has several economists and policy researchers concerned about the future and has state officials searching for a solution to the changing realities of the West Virginia economy.
