TradeAtlas · Trade Market Report

West Virginia

Data through June 2026Published August 2026Digest g0.1 · Provisional

Compiled from BLS, Census, Indeed Hiring Lab. Government statistics publish on a lag, so the latest month shown trails the calendar; every figure carries its own “data through” date.

This is the most recent edition. Newer government data for this state has not been published yet.

This month

Construction employment in West Virginia reached 36,300 jobs in June 2026, up 3.7% from a year earlier. BLS Job postings across all industries in West Virginia fell 8.1% year over year. Indeed Hiring Lab General Contracting is the tightest trade in West Virginia this month, with a Trade Demand Index of 63.9. TDI

01 · Indicators

Construction employment
36,300
+3.7% YoY
BLS · Jun 2026
Building permits
318
−2.4% YoY
Census · Jun 2026
Unemployment
4.2%
+5.0% YoY
BLS · Jun 2026
Job postings index
131.2
−8.1% YoY
Indeed Hiring Lab · Jun 2026

02 · Tightest trades in West Virginia

Explore every trade and state →
#TradeIndexVs. 50 states
1General Contracting63.9Surplus
2Plumbing46.5Surplus
3Electrical45.5Surplus
4Windows & Doors45.4Surplus
5Flooring44.9Surplus
6HVAC43.1Surplus
7Pest Control41.0Balanced
8Landscaping39.1Surplus
9Concrete & Masonry38.9Surplus
10Roofing37.5Surplus
11Solar36.5Surplus
12Fire Protection35.4Surplus
13Garage Doors33.5Surplus
14Painting32.6Surplus
15Fencing31.7Surplus
16Pool & Spa30.2Surplus
17Locksmith30.1Surplus
18Cleaning & Restoration27.3Surplus
19Insulation23.6Surplus
20Appliance Repair22.2Surplus

Index 0–100, methodology v0.2 · Band is this state’s percentile among the 50 states for that trade · Wages adjusted by BEA regional price parity

03 · Desks

Jobs

Open roles and hiring momentum in this market.

West Virginia in the Trade Demand Index →
Projects

Federal construction awards and permit activity.

Coming in a later edition
Policy

Licensing, wage and safety rules changing in this state.

Contractor licensing by state →
Companies

Contractors active in this market.

Company directory →
Sources in this edition
  • BLS · Construction employment, seasonally adjusted (BLS CES, via FRED) · through 2026-06
  • Census · Private housing units authorized by permit (Census BPS, via FRED) · through 2026-06
  • BLS · Unemployment rate (BLS LAUS, via FRED) · through 2026-06
  • Indeed Hiring Lab · Job-postings index, all sectors (Indeed Hiring Lab, CC BY 4.0) · through 2026-06
  • TradeAtlas · Trade Demand Index, methodology v0.2 — how it is built
Colophon

This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This product uses Census Bureau data but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. Employment and unemployment data are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job-postings data © Indeed Hiring Lab, CC BY 4.0. Every sentence above is a fixed template filled from those series; the numbers behind each one are published with it. The report is TradeAtlas’s own derivative product; no source named here endorses it.

Edition 2026-06 · digest g0.1 · computed 2026-08-25