MORGANTOWN -- Throughout the national economic downturn, economic indicators have shown the Morgantown Metropolitan Statistical Area to be a strong and resilient economy.

But those indicators obscure a local dynamic.

Over the winter, when U.S. unemployment topped 7 percent for the first time since 1994, the Morgantown MSA enjoyed short-lived fame as the unlikely location of the lowest rate of unemployment in the country.

How had a small West Virginia city kept its unemployment at just 2.7 percent? Media from across the country wanted to know.

Stories about the city appeared on NBC, CNBC and CNN, and Morgantown's unique situation also was mentioned in The Wall Street Journal. At the time, Morgantown's then-Mayor Ron Justice attributed the success to careful planning for a diverse economy and to high levels of employment in the "recession resistant" sectors of health care and government.

Since that time, the nation's unemployment rate has climbed to 9.7 percent, the highest rate since 1983.

And even with its economic diversity and recession resistant employment base, the Morgantown MSA, which includes Monongalia and Preston counties, hit an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent in July: still low for the U.S., though well above current low unemployment title holder -- Bismarck, N.D., at 3.8 percent.

But the story in the Morgantown MSA is really "a tale of two counties," according to Morgantown Area Economic Partnership President Don Reinke. MAEP's service area coincides with the MSA.

"Preston County's been harder hit by recessionary forces than has Monongalia County," Reinke said.

George Hammond's analyses back that up. Hammond is associate director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University.

"Preston County is really the part of the metropolitan area that's been hit by job losses," Hammond said. "There, they've seen job losses especially in natural resources, mining and manufacturing."

For example, Pittsburgh-based Matthews International Corp. idled its Kingwood bronze foundry in January. That idling resulted in a loss of 117 jobs for the county.

In February, Kingwood Mining Co., a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources of Abingdon, Va., closed its Whitetail Kittanning mining complex, a loss of another 325 jobs.

While Monongalia County has had its own layoffs, Morgantown's diverse employment base, along with some large construction projects -- for example, the Longview power plant that Reinke said currently employs around 1,500 -- have protected it from a net loss of employment.

Comparing the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, Monongalia County added about 640 jobs while Preston County lost 500, according to Hammond.

Year over year, employment grew 0.3 percent in the MSA in the second quarter, compared with job losses of 2.9 percent in the state and 4 percent across the nation, he said.

"We're seeing the impact of the national and international downturn," Hammond said. "But we're still doing better than the state and nation."

Preston County is working hard to promote its valuable development assets, according to Reinke, who recently participated in a strategic planning session there.

"They have Interstate 68 running through the county, they have more relatively flat, developable land than we have in Monongalia County, and certainly a big asset is their proximity to Morgantown, a major employment center," he said.

"But they have the challenges of a more rural county, like many, many other counties in the state," he said, listing among them the task of getting infrastructure to those flat areas.

Reinke noted the advantages that came for both counties when results of the 2000 census identified them as an MSA, drawing the attention and dollars of developers.

The counties were linked in the MSA, Reinke explained, because more than 25 percent of Preston County's work force commutes to Monongalia County.

He speculated about what might happen after the 2010 decennial census.

"Has Preston County's commuting to Monongalia County increased, decreased or stayed the same?" he wondered.

The Hazelton prison complex that opened in Preston County this decade employs about 500 within the county, he noted, and that such a shift in commuting patterns could result in Preston County's removal from the MSA.

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