Upshur County Currently Ranked 11th Statewide in Unemployment

August 8, 2022

Mountaineer News

UPSHUR COUNTY, WV - Unemployment rates, while significantly lower than the alarming pandemic peak of 14.7% experienced in April 2020, remain a subject of concern, notably as economic experts bandy around the idea of a potential recession by 2023.

The last economic recession,the Great Recession of 2008-2010, sent rates up to 10% as of October 2009. It was not until the spring of 2019 that unemployment finally went down to the same level it sits at now.

As of June of this year, national unemployment is at 3.5%, 0.1% lower than in May, marking a three-month stagnation,following a steady drop since that aforementioned COVID-affected peak.

A list of counties with the highest unemployment rate in West Virginia using data from the BLS was recently compiled. Counties were ranked by unemployment rate in June 2022, which as of this writing is the most current Bureau data. Here is where Upshur County stood:

- Current Unemployment rate: 5.6%

--- 1 month change: +1.3%

--- 1 year change: -1.8%

- Total Labor Force: 10,099 (570 unemployed)

Pendelton County ranked the lowest in the state while McDowell County came in at the top of the list.