According to Work-force West Virginia, Cal-houn County’s unem-ployment rate rose from 6.0 percent in October to 8.8 percent in November, moving the county from fifth to second highest in the state.
The top 10 highest unemployment rates in November were:
McDowell, 9.2%
Calhoun, 8.8
Wyoming, 8.0
Pocahontas, 7.2
Clay, 7.0
Mingo, 6.8
Roane, 6.7
Wirt, 6.5
Logan, 6.5
Fayette, 6.3
The lowest rates were in Jefferson, 2.9; Pendle-ton, 3.3; and Berkeley, 3.5.
The state average was 5.4 percent in October and 4.6 in November.
Statistics showed that 26 counties had increases, 21 counties had decreases, and eight counties re-mained the same.
Comparing November 2018 with November 2017, Workforce reported the following for Calhoun County:
2018 2017
Civilian Labor Force
2,500 2,530
Total Employment
2,280 2,280
Total Unemployment
220 260
Unemployment rate
8.8% 10.1%
Total non-Farm payroll
1,390 1,390
The average rate of unemployment for Cal-houn County over the last eight years was as follows:
2010 14.0%
2011 12.7
2012 11.1
2013 10.1
2014 9.8
2015 12.5
2016 12.8
2017 10.5
The top 10 largest employers in Calhoun County as of March 2018 were listed in order as follows:
Minnie Hamilton Healthcare Center, Inc.; Calhoun County Board of Education; B Miller Excavating, Inc.; Calhoun County Committee on Aging, Inc.; Calhoun County Bank, Inc.; RPR Industries, Inc.; Waco Foods, LLC (Foodland); Lost Time Control West, Inc.; Dominion Trans-mission, Inc.; and W.Va. Dept. of Highways.
The top 10 largest em-ployers in West Virginia for 2017 were listed in order as follows:
WVU Medicine; Wal-Mart Associates, Inc.; Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc.; Kroger; Cab-ell Huntington Hospital, Inc.; Mylan Pharma-ceuticals; Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc.; St. Mary’s Medical Center, Inc.; Wheeling Hospital, Inc.; Res-Care, Inc.
Other large businesses included: FirstEnergy Corp. (15th); Frontier West Virginia, Inc. (18th); Dollar General Stores (21st); Walgreens (Rite Aid), (23rd); Go-Mart, Inc. (35th); Dominion Transmission, Inc. (43rd); Gino’s/Tudor’s (47th).
