CALHOUN LEADS WV UNEMPLOYMENT RATE - Gasoline Prices Putting Crimp On Workers

(03/05/2011)

Half of the West Virginia's 55 counties have unemployment rates topping 12 percent. Calhoun County has the highest unemployment at 18.3 percent, with Roane at 17.3 percent and Wirt at 15.1 percent. Part of the central WV rate being high is related to seasonal lay-offs in construction and the oil and gas business. The state's average unemployment rate for January was 10.3 percent. Twenty-two counties are at 12 percent or above. Monongalia County continues to have the state's lowest unemployment rate at 6.6 percent. A critical problem facing central WV workers, most who drive 50-150 miles daily to work, is the rising price of gasoline. Some experts are predicting that gasoline prices will go about $4 a gallon. San Francisco gas prices have topped $4 per gallon This week the prices continued to rise several cents around the USA. Regionally the price is moving toward $3.60 a gallon. Rural West Virginia counties are sounding an alarm. Transportation budgets do not allow for the major increase. Many city and county trucks or ambulances use diesel, and those prices are slowly nearing the $4 mark. The free market gasoline prices, according to energy market experts, are spiking because of problems in Libya, although the country accounts for less than 2% of the oil supply.

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