Those unemployment figures do not include over 300 jobs lost in our Workforce Area 25, which includes the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, Perry, Jackson and Williamson.

I don't think the unemployment figures fully reflect the situation of seasonal employment in the retail field. Unemployment will be down now because of seasonal, holiday work that started in October and is just ending.

Obviously, there are always service jobs, however, those are not always self-sustaining wages. And, for our organization, our goal is to match job seekers with appropriate self-sustaining employment.

There are stories — legends, really — of the “steady job.” Old-timers gather graduates around the flickering light of a computer monitor and tell stories of how the company used to be, back when a job was for life, not just for the business cycle. … The graduates snicker. A steady job! They’ve never heard of such a thing.

West Virginia is on the upswing, adding jobs and residents, pushing down the unemployment rate and making progress closing the per capita personal income gap.

Overall, while it is clear that the pace of jobs growth is moderating, we continue to believe that the unemployment rate will hold broadly steady around five per cent amid trend-like growth in the economy and employment.