Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 12

12 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 11 gateway communities to the region all put us on the national and statewide map in a very positive way.” Belcher acknowledged there is much work to be done to recover from COVID-19 as well as the traditional economic issues facing West Virginia, including but not limited to population decline, low labor participation rates, lower higher education attainment, and decline of the traditional coal industry. She welcomed the economic assessment offered by John Deskins, Ph.D., Director of the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research. Deskins’ keynote presentation offered the following observations: “Our forecast calls for the New River Gorge Area to rebound at a below-average pace but should recover fully from the COVID-19 recession by late 2022. In addition, two of the region’s counties will lag well behind this timeline. Key aspects of our forecast are as follows: • We expect employment to increase at an average annual rate of 0.6 percent in the region over the next five years. Job growth in the region is expected to be at its strongest between 2021 and 2023. • Sectors that were hurt the most by the pandemic, namely leisure and hospitality and other services, will see the fastest rate of growth over the next few years as regional and national leisure travel return to normal patterns. • Manufacturing, professional and business services, the public sector and healthcare are other sectors that will contribute the most to regional job growth over the next five years. • The coal industry should experience improving conditions over the next two years, while state and federal infrastructure investment provides significant upside potential for construction activity going forward. • Unemployment is expected to decline Our forecast calls for the New River Gorge Area to rebound at a below-average pace but should recover fully from the COVID-19 recession by late 2022