Obviously the coal market's taken quite a hit in recent months. Layoffs have severely hit many communities. That being said, coal gets the blame for almost all woes in EKY (mainly by those who don't live in EKY, but who instead reside in places like Berea and Lexington where they profess their undying love for these hills). So we thought it'd be nice to look at how coal counties and other counties are faring in this recession.
The highest unemployment in the state is in Magoffin County, a coal county, true, but at only 400+ workers according to the latest census data, it's certainly on the lower end of the spectrum. It registered a whopping 19.6% unemployment.
Jackson County, an even more marginal coal county, followed at 17%. It had just under 100 coal miners according to recent census info.
Powell and Bath counties follow. Neither are coal counties. Then there's Grayson, which isn't in EKY, and Lewis that is. Again, neither county is a coal county.
So what should we take from this? First, folks who try to argue that Coal = Weak Economies are simply wrong. Poverty and unemployment in EKY are complicated cultural subjects and defy easy, neo-Marxist rationales. Secondly, on the face of it one can argue the opposite: the coal counties, even in a down coal economy, are holding their own against non coal counties.
Link:
www.beloblog.com/WHAS_Blogs/PoliticalBlogger/2009/08/which-ky-county-has-19-unemplo.html
Cross Posted at Cyberhillbilly.com
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