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This publication contains employment and wage information for the calendar year 2008 as reported to Workforce West Virginia by firms participating in the West Virginia Unemployment Compensation system. These data are collected and prepared through the Covered Employment and Wage program conducted jointly by Workforce West Virginia and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor.

The West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Law--Chapter 21A of the West Virginia Code--protects approximately 90 percent of the employees in the state by providing temporary income to eligible unemployed individuals. In general, any firm which employs one or more workers for some part of a day in at least 20 different weeks of a calendar year is required to contribute to the state's unemployment insurance reserves. Major exceptions are railroad companies and the federal government which contribute to separate insurance programs. Since data from the Program of Unemployment Compensation for Federal Civilian Employees are available, federal workers are included in this publication but railroad workers are not. The self-employed, student workers, most church workers, and unpaid family workers are generally not covered by West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Law. In certain instances agricultural workers and domestics are covered. For specific information regarding unemployment compensation coverage, please contact the Unemployment Compensation Division.

The statewide and county tables contain data pertaining to annual average covered employment and total wages paid to employees by covered employers. The average annual wage is computed by dividing the total wages reported for the calendar year by the annual average employment of all covered firms. The average weekly wage is calculated by dividing the average annual wage by 52. Industry lines which might disclose information about individual firms are not published and all lines are independently rounded. Consequently, the industry lines for counties may not sum to county totals.

Statewide employment and wages at 2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit, 5-digit, and 6-digit levels of industry detail are included whenever these meet publication criteria. This information is also presented at 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-digit industry detail for counties when permissible. Statewide data and county data are not always comparable, particularly when the state data reaches 4-, 5-, and 6-digit levels and counties do not. Because of the conversion to NAICS, the data in this publication are not compatible with historical data previously published under the Standard Industrical Classification (SIC) system. Government establishments are not classified according to primary activity, except for the U. S. Postal Service, education, and hospitals. Unclassified establishments are those that cannot be categorized by individual industry and/or county.

Copies of this publication may be obtained by contacting: