WEST VIRGINIA UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES LOOKING GOOD - Well, Maybe

(10/25/2004)
West Virginia's job picture is looking good.

For the first time this year, none of West Virginia's counties have reported a double-digit unemployment rate.

The state's jobless rate fell to 4.4 percent.

Things are good in Calhoun County, with figures dropping well below the long-time double digit numbers the county has reported for many years.

If you have the good fortune to live in Pendleton County, the unemployment rate is 2.3 percent, but things were a little worse in Hancock with the state's highest employment rate of 9.8 percent.

Only four counties had higher unemployment than last month - Braxton, Gilmer, Greenbrier and Randolph, but their numbers didn't look all that bad.

Well, I hope you know this is a spin on unemployment numbers, particularly for those of you who might mistake them as a guage for the real status of jobs and employment in the Mountain State.

The bottom line is you can't be unemployed from a job that does not exist, and when unemployment benefits have expired a person is no longer counted in unemployment statistics.