Unemployment Varies Widely By W.Va. Counties

A new set of delayed January unemployment figures for West Virginia is out. Some counties are below the national average, but many are not.  

Last week, on April 1, WorkForce West Virginia released the state’s January unemployment figures as part of an effort to catch up from reporting delays caused by last fall’s federal government shutdown.  

This week, the government released county level numbers but unlike the state level, they are not adjusted for seasonal changes. What they do show is trends over time.   

West Virginia’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.4% from December, which is expected in January, rising to 4.9%. 

Unemployment is defined as working aged residents working or currently seeking work.  

Every county but one saw an increase. The largest came in Wirt County, which rose by 2% to 8.6%. Pocahontas County fell from 5% to 4.5%. Considering the size of the workforce there, that was only a difference of 10 people who are no longer seeking work.  

Six counties were at or below 4%: Jefferson (3.5), Pendleton (3.6), and Monongalia (3.9) while Berkeley, Hapshire and Putnam were at 4% 

Six counties were above 7%: Wetzel (7.3), Roane (8.1), Wirt (8.8), Clay (9.6), Calhoun (10.1) and McDowell (11.4).  

Adjusted for seasonal changes, the state stood at 4.6% unemployment for January and the national rate was 4.3%. This represented a slight decrease from 4.4% in December 2025 but was 0.3% higher than the 4% rate reported in January 2025. The number of people unemployed was 7.36 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Based on last week’s reporting, the total number of employed state residents dropped by 1,100 declining to 746,400 – while the number of unemployed state residents increased by 100 to 36,300.