Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Morgantown, WV MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
National wage growth at 3.0%, lowest since May 2021
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Average hourly earnings, September 2026
West Virginia unemployment at 4.0%, down from 4.3% year-over-year
Joint Economic Committee / Workforce WV — State unemployment rate release, August 2026
This Month's Takeaways
WVU Research Corporation WARN notice affecting 507 workers
U.S. Department of Labor WARN Database — Mass layoff WARN filing, August 2025
Local Economic Conditions
Monongalia County average weekly wage of $1,370 vs. $1,654 national
Bureau of Labor Statistics (QCEW) — County-level average weekly wage data, March 2026
Open Threads in the Data
West Virginia labor force participation at 54.5%, lowest nationally
West Virginia Chamber of Commerce — State labor force participation analysis, 2026
Looking Ahead
National nonfarm payrolls added 29,000 jobs in September, below trend
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report, September 2026
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison