Job Creation Story Archives - Page 2 of 2 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Berkeley Springs Furniture Company To Add Rural Jobs With Factory Expansion

Furniture manufacturer Gat Creek is undergoing an expansion of its Berkeley Springs factory that will see more jobs for local workers.

The factory ships around $25 million worth of products across the country annually and employs 150 workers. The expansion is expected to bring 65 more to the facility and double its production capacity.

Owner Gat Caperton says producing domestically in an era where most furniture companies contract to foreign manufacturers is a point of pride for him.

“I think it’s important to produce things locally. And in our case, in particular, we’re really sustainable at the time that sustainability has become more and more important,” Caperton said.

The Morgan County-based factory was founded in the 1950s as Tom Seely Furniture before it was bought and renamed by Caperton in 1996. Each piece of furniture is handmade there.

“It’s like a reproduction of antique furniture. Everything’s built by hand,” said shop lead Michael Snow. “It’s just very interesting how it all comes together from start to finish. We take a (wood) panel down and we make a shape out of a square panel, and then it ends up turning into a bed or a table.”

Last week, workers celebrated the expansion by signing a steel beam that will be part of the new wing’s foundation. Caperton says it’s part of a factory tradition where each piece of furniture is signed by the craftsperson who built it.

“It’s kind of a nice way to celebrate the expansion,” Caperton said. “We have to build so much furniture inside, and we couldn’t build a building and not put our signatures upon the face.”

Gat Creek factory workers sign a steel beam that will be part of the foundation of the factory’s new expansion.

Rural Eastern Panhandle communities like Berkeley Springs have to compete with larger towns like Martinsburg, which continue to see rapid increases in population and job growth. However, Gat Creek workers like Erin Lancaster say they’d rather work closer to home, preferring the more rural lifestyle.

“I love that this place is expanding and it means a lot for people as a place for people to come and work and be part of the community, but I also don’t want too much growth in Morgan County to where we’re just packed and overwhelmed,” Lancaster said. “I like low key, you know, not clogged.”

The expansion is expected to be finished within a year and will add 40,000 square feet to the factory.

W.Va. Unemployment, Labor Force Participation Numbers Both Low

West Virginia had a 3.7% unemployment rate for March – making it a six-month run of the lowest unemployment numbers in state history.West Virginia’s labor force participation numbers, however, remain among the lowest in the country at 55%. That’s 7% below the national average.That means nearly half of West Virginia’s eligible population is not working or even trying to find a job.

West Virginia had a 3.7 percent unemployment rate for March – making it a six-month run of the lowest unemployment numbers in state history.

West Virginia’s labor force participation numbers, however, remain among the lowest in the country at 55 percent. That’s 7 percent below the national average.

That means nearly half of West Virginia’s eligible population is not working or even trying to find a job.

Acting WorkForce West Virginia Commissioner Scott Adkins said one factor to the problem is more than 13 percent of the eligible labor force works in neighboring states. The national average is just 3.1 percent for neighboring state laborers.

Adkins said the key factor is that the labor numbers in the 16 to 24-year-old age group are far from where they should be.

“Thirty percent of all graduating seniors do not have a career plan, they are not going to higher education,”Adkins said. “They are not going to technical school. They don’t have a job, and they are not joining the military.”

Adkins said there are organized efforts underway from government, business and education groups to get more eligible West Virginians to work, especially those in that 16 to 24-year-old age group.

Interstate Exit Development Helps Attract New Jobs In Southern W.Va.

Omnis plans to manufacture modular homes called Composite Insulated Building Units (CIBUs). The new homes are said to be affordable, environmentally sustainable and energy efficient. Construction of the new homes can be assembled in days. The company is expected to employ 150 to 300 people.

Governor Jim Justice joined the Bluefield community Tuesday to celebrate Omnis Building Technologies’ decision to manufacture products in Mercer County.

“Today is an announcement that’s so exciting, it’s beyond belief,” Gov. Justice said. “Not only for the jobs and the economic impact – which are great on their own – but these great people with Omnis are about to come to West Virginia and do something that’s truly revolutionary. It’s really, really special.”

Omnis promises to open a shop in Bluefield with a $40 million facility and create hundreds of jobs in southern West Virginia. The 150,000-square-foot building will be located off of I-77 at Exit 1. The contract to develop the interstate exit was just announced last month, realizing a project that’s been in the works for several years. Omnis says the location will provide convenient distribution opportunities.

Raleigh County Memorial Airport Upgrades Expected To Create Hundreds Of Jobs

The Raleigh County Memorial Airport is getting a facelift, and along with that may come hundreds of new jobs in the area.

The airport, located just outside of Beckley, was awarded $8.3 million in federal, state and local funds on Thursday to make some critical upgrades.

The Airport Industrial Park in Beaver will receive $3.5 million in federal dollars from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).

The EDA awarded $1.7 million as part of the Assistance to Coal Communities (ACC) program. The ACC is meant to help communities severely impacted by the declining use of coal.

The ARC awarded $1.75 million as part of West Virginia’s regular allocation of annual funds after a recommendation from Gov. Jim Justice.

According to a release from the EDA, the federal grants will be matched with $4.85 million in state and local funds.

The project will level land, construct an access road, and install water and sewer infrastructure to create prime development opportunities for commercial properties.

Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito championed the announcement as a way to help the economy in Southern West Virginia. Manchin and Capito advocated for the investment that will help connect more sites with direct access to the airport’s runways.

The work is expected to create more than 600 jobs.

Bombardier to Expand Bridgeport Service Facility

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced Tuesday the expansion of a North Central West Virginia facility expected to bring new jobs to the area.

Tomblin joined Bombardier Commercial Aircraft officials to announce plans to expand the Bridgeport aircraft service center. The facility currently employs around 400 people, but will double in size once the expansion project begins in the spring of 2017.

Tomblin estimated the new 300,000 square foot service center will employ an additional 150 people.

A Bombardier representative said the company was unsure of the number of new jobs the expansion would create, but they do expect an increase in their employment numbers.

The Bridgeport facility provides heavy maintenance for regional sized jets and turboprop planes in North America.

The service center has been open for 18 years and with the expansion will be able to accommodate 20 maintenance lines at a time, up from the 9 lines at the facility today.