Despite the recession that’s currently hitting the U.S. and the world, Morgantown, W.V. is holding its own on a national level. In recently released information by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Morgantown is leading all metropolitan areas with the lowest rate of unemployment in the country. The West Virginia Gazette website does note that “metropolitan area unemployment figures are not seasonally adjusted”, meaning that some other areas may be doing as well or better based on different criteria, but overall this is still excellent for Morgantown and West Virginia residents alike.
The past months have seen lost jobs and risen unemployment numbers around the nation, which hurts everyone in the long run regardless of income or geographic location. The hardest hit areas seem to be south of Morgantown, the Associated Press says: “Unemployment rates moved higher in the vast majority of the nation’s 369 metropolitan areas, with Indiana’s Elkhart-Goshen and Dalton, Georgia registering the biggest annual increases.” These areas may be seeing the most devastation because as Abcnews.go.com states: “…metropolitan areas across the Southeast and Midwest are seeing some of the steepest increases in joblessness, stung by their dependence on factories serving the struggling housing and auto sectors”.
Meanwhile, Morgantown, W.Va. (with 2.7 percent), and Logan, Utah/Idaho (with 2.8 percent), came up with the lowest unemployment rates.
Many factors contribute to this sudden bout of positive publicity for the city. From the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, WV: “The storm has so far passed over the fourth-largest city in West Virginia, where burgeoning education, health care and technology industries have helped…” These are services that the population in any area continues to need regardless of the global financial situation. Another contributing factor may be that citizens of Morgantown remember how to handle hard times, as Mayor of Morgantown Ron Justice put it in a West Virginia Public Broadcasting article, “…part of Morgantown’s good fortune could be related to the fact that people have not forgotten the past…We went down about 5,000 jobs 15 years ago…and I think we did recover…they’ve worked really hard to put us in this position.” Previously, the city suffered a massive blow in job loss due to coal mines shutting down and factories going out of business – so hard times are no surprise to this resilient city.
In November 2008, CNN’s website noted that Morgantown was #5 on a list of the 30 Best Cities to Find a Job, citing that “low unemployment rates seem harder to come by in today’s economy…92 percent of cities have seen an increase in their unemployment rates.” Regardless of this fact, Morgantown was rated among the top cities to seek for job pursuers.
It is a certainty that Morgantown will see its fair share of the hardships that the nation is currently facing, however things will turn around. Morgantown may not continue to have the lowest unemployment rate in America, but when the country sees the recession waves slowly recede, Morgantown will still showcase a strong and united front to the rest of the nation. West Virginians do not give up-and that will work as an advantage in the future, as it is presently.
Posted by Vanessa White on February 11, 2009 at 11:13 am in the following categories: Featured News, WVUBI
