Information concerning potential availability of labor is a product of labor force participation rates using the national average as a measure. It is a standard procedure developed by the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and is one of the more important socioeconomic indices. As with all statistics, however, the user should understand the derivation of the data and its limitations.
Historically, West Virginia has had a low labor force participation rate. The number of jobs available versus the population 16 years of age and over has been very low. The national participation rate is utilized in the procedure that yields the potential available labor supply. One of the basic assumptions of this procedure is that either a state or an area could achieve the national level of labor utilization provided the required number of jobs were available. A by-product of this procedure is that if either a state's or an area's labor force participation rate is equal to or exceeds the national average the method will indicate that workers are not available. This may or may not be the case, depending upon the circumstances in that particular state or area. It merely means that the determination of labor activity lies beyond the scope of this procedure. Some areas have a labor force participation rate beyond the national average, while others have full utilization at less than the national level of participation.
Date of labor availability, therefore,
is a product of a standardized procedure used in all states and, like all
statistics, are only indicative of conditions and circumstances. These
data do not specify categorically the number of persons available for work
nor do they necessarily indicate the total number of people available for
work if jobs were available.