Division of Research & Evaluation

Appalachian Regional Commission

Industrial snapshot: West Virginia

Largest industrial share in 2017: Health & Social Services, 125,000 jobs, 14.1 percent of total employment

Fastest growth in employment from 2012 to 2017: Utilities, 6.4 percent growth

Fastest growth in earnings per employee from 2012 to 2017: Education & Information Services, 11.3 percent growth

For more information, please see the complete report, Industrial Make-up of the Appalachian Region, Employment and Earnings, 2002-2017, available 

for download at www.arc.gov/research. The report includes county-level maps for each industry in the region, allowing for comparisons across states and 

subregions, as well discussion about how trends in the Region compare with those in the United States as a whole.

Total Employment 889 13,420 196,132 100.0 100.0 100.0 $45,460 $46,697 $57,187

Health, Social Services 125 1,562 22,199 14.1 11.6 11.3 $53,648 $53,807 $56,340

State & Local Government 122 1,488 19,619 13.8 11.1 10.0 $47,961 $58,113 $69,677

Retail Trade 103 1,493 19,222 11.6 11.1 9.8 $14,305 $17,906 $22,477

Professional, Technical Services 89 1,619 28,479 10.0 12.1 14.5 $44,081 $43,107 $61,372

Food, Lodging, Entertainment 85 1,240 19,155 9.6 9.2 9.8 $20,442 $21,308 $27,685

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 53 1,040 19,616 6.0 7.8 10.0 $34,871 $37,716 $60,386

Manufacturing 50 1,342 13,307 5.6 10.0 6.8 $68,868 $63,583 $77,469

Wholesale Trade, Transportation 48 874 14,148 5.4 6.5 7.2 $86,680 $80,686 $83,878

Personal & Other Services 47 793 11,170 5.3 5.9 5.7 $31,573 $32,180 $36,353

Construction 46 775 10,636 5.1 5.8 5.4 $58,095 $53,773 $64,788

Coal, Gas, Other Mining 36 140 1,505 4.0 1.0 0.8 $52,288 $48,966 $67,769

Federal Government, Military 33 241 4,786 3.7 1.8 2.4 $83,446 $78,938 $91,808

Farming, Forestry 24 325 3,552 2.7 2.4 1.8 $3,205 $13,726 $28,111

Education, Information Services 23 432 8,075 2.6 3.2 4.1 $78,856 $79,670 $82,520

Utilities 6 57 664 0.7 0.4 0.3 $109,657 $109,314 $125,893

West Virginia United States West Virginia Appalachia United States West Virginia Appalachia United States 2017

Employment (thousands) Industrial Share Earnings per employee

Appalachia

Total Employment -3.3 4.7 9.6 0.6 3.7 3.4

Health, Social Services 1.2 5.3 10.5 7.3 4.7 4.1

State & Local Government -5.6 -0.7 2.3 3.3 6.8 7.9

Retail Trade -3.3 2.5 6.4 -0.5 22.4 15.6

Professional, Technical Services 1.2 7.1 12.0 11.1 9.3 7.8

Food, Lodging, Entertainment 0.4 11.6 15.1 -1.0 6.2 8.0

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 0.7 8.6 11.7 -6.6 -2.5 2.9

Manufacturing -4.4 5.5 5.6 4.1 3.4 1.4

Wholesale Trade, Transportation -3.4 6.2 16.8 -1.8 -0.6 -5.6

Personal & Other Services -3.0 3.7 7.7 -1.3 3.1 2.5

Construction -8.1 7.2 19.0 -6.5 3.5 7.9

Coal, Gas, Other Mining -24.5 -17.3 -2.7 -21.0 -23.3 -36.4

Federal Government, Military -1.2 -3.9 -2.9 5.5 3.4 2.8

Farming, Forestry -2.9 0.7 1.3 -37.0 -6.2 -18.9

Education, Information Services -2.0 2.4 8.7 11.3 4.4 6.5

Utilities 6.4 11.0 14.9 0.5 0.3 -2.6

2012-2017

Percent change in employment Percent change in earnings per employee

West Virginia Appalachia United States West Virginia Appalachia United States