The Tri-State Area, and West Virginia as a whole, have some hope, but it will still be coming slowly.

That was much of the message presented by John Deskins, Ph.D., when he was in Weirton Oct. 9, meeting with local business and government officials to speak about his latest examinations of the state’s economy.

Deskins last was in Weirton for such a presentation in April 2022, bringing some of his students to discuss the findings of their studies and surveys of the region, along with the state. At that time, we were still climbing out of the economic pit created by the COVID pandemic. There was a lot of uncertainty, with the hope we would be able to get back to around where we were before the virus hit our shores.

We have pretty much hit those marks, Deskins said, and he expects to see “slow” but “continued growth” in the state in the years ahead, noting there are still long-term challenges ahead.

West Virginia took a steep loss of employment during the early COVID years, but Deskins is projecting us to be right around where we were ahead of that time. The problem remains, though, the state has a comparitively low rate of participation of residents in the workforce with 55%. The U.S. average, by comparison, is 63%. Only Mississippi falls below the Mountain State with a little over 54% of its people employed.

West Virginia is also at the lower end when it comes to personal income on a per capita basis, with a state average pay around $55,000 per year. Higher paying occupations continue to be in utilities and energy sectors, as well as manufacturing, construction and finance/insurance. Jobs in those areas supposedly bring in anywhere from $70,000 to $105,000, according to Deskins’ reports.

Some of the lowest-paid sectors include retail, agriculture, leisure and hospitality, reportedly bringing in somewhere between $25,000 and $35,000.

Another challenge affecting many of these areas is the loss of population, and, specifically, the loss of younger population. Deskins continues to project some losses in the next six years in those younger-age demographics, although not quite as steep as they were over the last decade.

Significant growth, he said, will be focused in the five easternmost counties – Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire and Hardy, as well as Monongalia and Marion. Those counties have seen impact for several years now from their proximity to the Washington, D.C. Metro area, as well as growth from West Virginia University and the technology corridor just to the south.

In the years ahead, though, Deskins said the Northern Panhandle could join those counties, along with a few more areas of the central part of the state as new companies have begun making their way here.

Locally, much of that is projected as a result of Form Energy, though Deskins’ studies only took into account the known quantities of development and investment.

We’ve heard discussion of other possible companies looking at the Weirton area, in particular, and if even a couple of those are landed, that will compound any growth potential.

In the Wheeling area, during a presentation this past week, Deskins focused on the impact of the educational institutions, including West Liberty University and West Virginia Northern Community College.

I’m no academic. I see these reports every couple of years, and have witnessed the changes here with my own eyes. There’s no doubt we have been hit hard by the loss of major employers, and people have left as a result.

It will absolutely take time for us to recover, but it’s possible and I think we’re heading in that direction. It’s been a combination of having the right people in place at the right times, having others willing to make investments and take risks and challenge our way of thinking to build something different.

We had locked ourselves into a cycle of depression and despair, but, I think, cracks have formed in that cycle and we’re beginning to move out of it into something better.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @ChowellWDT)