Morgantown, West Virginia Jobs Increasing

In the 18 months leading up to March 2010 and the end of 1st QTR, the numbers of jobs listed for Morgantown increased by 82%, which means they nearly doubled.

Traditionally, West Virginia has been written off as a poor, underdeveloped, poverty-stricken backwater, but it is creating jobs and has many worthy attributes, not the least of which is natural beauty at spots like Hawks Nest State Park and Gauley Bridge.

An upswing in job listings, gathered from thousands of job boards and individual career pages of local companies revealed itself in January 2010, with an additional increase evident beginning in March, as seen in the graph below.

West Virgina is beautiful with its mountains, lakes, valleys and Hawks Nest State Park. The first two visits I made to this state, I became lost on the highways, but enjoyed myself, because of the beauty that I discovered along the way.

During October 2008, the Job Search Engine CareerBuilder.com named 30 top cities for finding successful jobs and careers in the USA.

Morgantown, WV was named to the CareerBuilder Top 30 List as the Number Five City for successful job hunting. Considerations for this rank included a comparatively lower unemployment rate and cost of living, proportionately higher median/Mean wages, a healthy outlook for industry expansion/startup, and other factors.

Bizjournals.com named Morgantown the Best Small City in the US.

The Morgantown Area Economic Partnership, or MAP is an active regional group that serves all of the Greater Morgantown Area of Monongalia and Preston Counties combined. This group assists new businesses to open with special financing, employee recruitment/training, property locations, and other information.

The Greater Morgantown Convention & Visitors Bureau Innovative Programming Grant Programis another entity that assists new businesses to locate and grow in the Morgantown area. Not far from the Monongahela National Forest, Morgantown and its business incentive programs encourage the region's growing Travel and Tourism Industry, along with associated expansion in retail sales, dining, sports, recreation, and entertainment.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown is a lab for developing and exapdning clean energy for sustainability in the 21st century. Primary among these interests is the use of Clean Coal and Goal Gasification Transport (using gas produced from coal). Groundbreaking work has been done by the lab's Chris Guenther, with a summary avaiabelonline at Clean Coal Alchemy. Another of the lab's goals is top promote and develop a Hydrogen fuel cell based economy.

Visit the comprehensive website at National Energy Technology Laboratory and view their career and fellowship listings online. Videos and Congressional Testimonies from the lab are also avialable on the site.

Morgantown was founded circa 1765 - 1785 with a land grant given to several men from Virginia. Previous to that time, certain trappers and settlers lived around Decker's Creek in the same area. Native Americans and white settlers both claims lands in the same area, leading to conflict that declined and greater number of European Americans entered the region and stayed.

Zachquill Morgan created a city plan in 1785 that called for a network of roads to all points around the valley in which Morgantown lay. Today, Morgantown is a channel through which substantial traffic passes between the Midwest and Eastern States and form Southern States as well..

Settlers were confident enough by 1791 of a lasting peace with the remaining local Native Americans that they encouraged new settlers to come to Morgantown, names after one of the original men grated property rights in the community. The Native Americans left the area almost completely as Morgantown and other cities grew. From trading posts, the town grew to become a commercial and transportation hub in the Monongahela Valley. After the incorporation of the city in 1838, roads were improved and heavy traffic flowed through the river valley and the city.

Nearby South Morgantown was annexed by Morgantown a nit later and became the Warehouse District, which, with the industrialized Wharf District in the Great Depression, fell into economic decline right up to about 1990. Revitalization began at that time, as it has in several small and medium-sized cities across the United States.

The Morgantown Historic Landmark Commission has facilitated the rehabilitation and registry of many local and nationally-recognized historic sites around the Wharf and Warehouse Districts. Rails-to-Trails biking and hiking programs now operates along the railroad tracks near the Monongahela River, while shops and restaurants have found success in these urban areas. West Virgina State University continues to expand in this area as well, bringing in new students.

• Office/Administrative Support -- The industrial sectors of Healthcare, Government, and Education will likely continue to demand additional high numbers of office workers and support staff through 2016 or 2018.
• Sales positions – includes salespersons and supervisors -- At Travel & Tourism grows as an industry in West Virginia and as other jobs increase and draw new families and individuals to Morgantown, sales will climb and requrie additional workers.
• Food & Beverage Preparation and Service - all types of establishments, another part of Travel & Tourism as well as Recreation.
• Transportation/Freight and Materials Moving - This job is increasing in droves.
• Production/Manufacturing jobs
• Education, Training, and Library related jobs
• Healthcare Practitioners and Techs
• Primary, Secondary, and Special Education School Teachers
• Installation, Maintenance & Repair
• Management jobs - all fields and in all levels.

Additional jobs that are beginning to grow very quickly between 2008 and 2016 include the following titles in Computers, Engineering, and Healthcare. We should see engineering focusing on the environment and alternative energy sources from 2008 onward, requiring additional engineering techs as well. Engineering is also becoming more important in medical and health endeavors.

• Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts
• First-Line Supervisors and Managers for Helpers & Laborers
• Computer Software Applications Engineers
• Computer Systems Analysts
• Industrial Engineers
• Personal, Home Care, and Health Aides
• Medical Assistants

Spring 2010: 3,200 jobs...Spring 2015: 8,500 jobs (nearly tripled in number)

1. Truck Drivers with CDL - The trucking Industry is booming in the USA from 2014 - 2015
2. Resort Area Jobs
3. CNAs -certified nursing aids
4. Registered Nurses (RNs)
5. LPNs
6. Cable Splicing Technicians
7. Merchandisers
8. Speech Language Pathologists
9. Physical Therapy Assistants and Aides
10. Retail Salespersons
11. Clinical Associates
12. Patient Care Techs
13. Occupational Therapists
14. Software Engineers
15. Shift Supervisors

State-funded training programs for CNAs and LPNs are available through County Offices. Call your job training leaders in your county of residence.

• Morgantown Workforce Development Services - Job Seeker services include several dozen features and community partnerships for diverse populations that require help in finding a job. Anyone can access these services.
• Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce - Look at this site for business news, related upcoming hiring events, and emerging jobs.

1. West Virginia University
2. West Virginia University Hospitals
3. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
4. Monongalia County Board of Education
5. University Health Associates
6. Monongalia General Hospital
7. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc.
8. Teletech Customer Care Management (WV), Inc.
9. Gabriel Brothers, Inc.
10. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services -- Center for Disease Control

West Virginia University - This school offers three different campuses in Morgantown: 1) Downtown, 2) Evansdale, and 3) Ruby Memorial Hospital/Health Sciences Complex. WCU is on the Top 100 List of best research insitutions in the country.

• West Virginia University Hospital School Of Radiography Technology
• West Virginia University Hospital Dept. Of Nutrition and Dietetics

ADDITIONAL SCHOOLS

• West Virginia Junior College
• Monongalia County Technical Education Center
• Morgantown Beauty College Inc
• Human Resources Development and Employment – non-profit Employment & Training agency.
• Human Resource Development and Training – non-profit corporation (different from the one above)

Additional Morgantown Research Faciltiies

BUSINESS & ENVIRONMENT

• Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Development
• WV Geological and Economic Survey
• WVa Agriculture and Forestry Experimentation Station
• US Forest Service Engineering Laboratory

HEALTH & MEDICAL:

• National Biometric Security Project @West Virginia
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - Center for Disease Control

ENERGY:

• National Energy Technology Laboratory (noted above)
• National Research Center for Coal & Energy
• Petroleum Research Laboratory
• US Bureau of Mines - Coal Research Center