Pair and compare two distinct employment industry sectors of your choosing to examine their relative importance and performance across all of West Virginia's 55 county economies over 1969-2022. Contrast and assess, for example, the comparative importance of employment for the Information sector across the counties of West Virginia against State Government, or any other two sectors you elect to select.

Apply the interactive tools included in this module to conduct your own research about how any two industry sectors compare and contrast across the counties of West Virginia. The analytical tools at your disposal for ranking and sorting the importance and growth of individual industry sectors across counties include: percent of total local employment, location quotients, percent of State total sector employment, growth rates and growth rates differenced against overall averages locally and their counterparts nationwide.

The employment estimates compiled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) measure the number of full- and part-time employees, plus the number of proprietors of unincorporated businesses. People holding more than one job are counted in the employment estimates for each job they hold. This means BEA employment estimates represent a job count, not a number-of-people employed count. Also, BEA employment estimates are by place-of-work, rather than by place-of-residence.

The employment estimates compiled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) measure the number of full- and part-time employees, plus the number of proprietors of unincorporated businesses. People holding more than one job are counted in the employment estimates for each job they hold. This means BEA employment estimates represent a job count, not a number-of-people employed count. Also, BEA employment estimates are by place-of-work, rather than by place-of-residence.