Their service area includes the counties of Buchanan, Dickinson, Lee, Scott, Wise, Russell, Tazewell, and the City of Norton. City of Bristol, Washington County borders them and that is where I live. Other than no mining and more manufacturing along I-81 in Bristol and Washington Counties, the trends are the same towards a low-wage poverty work force in an economy dependant on government spending and transfer payments.

The above chart prompted me to go to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) in Bristol, VA and research this. I got copies of the stats for Buchanan County in the coalfields (VCEDA's service area) versus Bristol, VA and Washington County along I-81. What I found was a shock. Before I get to that, let's clarify the above hard-to-read pie chart and the problems with it. I'll be looking at government, trades, services, mining, and manufacturing which covers almost 90% of the workforce.

Job Category	Percent of population	Pay per week	Per hour	Yearly
Government	24%	$584.00	$14.60	$30,368.00
Mining	10%	$910.00	$22.75	$47,320.00
Manufacturing	10%	$523.00	$13.08	$27,196.00
Services	20%	$507.00	$12.68	$26,364.00
Trade	23%	$296.00	$7.40	$15,392.00

It should be obvious we have two glaring contradictions between this table and VCEDA's own poll above in services and manufacturing. When I pulled the paperwork at VEC, I was informed the stats were "voluntary" from employers and "not verified" by VEC. It's also incomplete with certain things listed with a "D" for disclosure suppression. The problem is the data itself is distorted for the following reasons:

• They lumped professionals like doctors, etc. in with hotel clerks under services. The gross wage gap inflated the overall earnings on paper. With about one-fifth of services being professionals, that left about 80% earning around $6 an hour including those engaged in home health care the big growth sector in medical. Services should be reduced to 16% of the population and about $6 an hour or about $12,480 per year. This is one example how the government uses "averages" to hide wage-gaps and general poverty.

• In manufacturing it's just plain nonsense. I know of few manufacturers in southwest Virginia that pays an average of $13.08 an hour except perhaps mining machinery, which has all but closed down. In Bristol and Washington County, it averages between $6 and $9 an hour. The average from VCEDA's poll above matches my poll. Let's say an average of $7.50 in the Bristol area. Trades is also inflated, I'll go with VCEDA and say about $6 an hour for an average. Manufacturing has been hammered in the region due to NAFTA with over 2500 jobs lost in Smyth County (next door to Washington) alone.

• Mining and government looks correct overall. In Bristol and Tri-Cities we have no mining and manufacturing is between 20% and 30%.

Note that I'm basing everything on a 40-hour week, 52 weeks per year. I've also excluded ambulatory health care, which caused a huge income spike in services for Washington County but doesn't exist in Bristol. This is due to the Bristol hospital being in the Tennessee side of town. Let's look at a revised chart for based on VEC stats for Bristol and Washington County, March 31, 2002:

Job Category	Percent of population	Pay per week	Per hour	Yearly
Government	16%	$584.00	$14.60	$30,368.00
Mining	0%	$910.00	$22.75	$47,320.00
Manufacturing	24.8%	$300.00	$7.50	$15,600.00
Services	26%	$240.00	$6.00	$12,480.00
Trade	18%	$240.00	$6.00	$12,480.00

Note that Bristol and Washington County have a large percentage of non-profits that in reality work for the government receiving tax dollars aren't included under government. And another table for Bristol:

Job Category	Percent of population	Pay per week	Per hour	Yearly
Government	13%	$584.00	$14.60	$30,368.00
Mining	0%	$910.00	$22.75	$47,320.00
Manufacturing	23%	$300.00	$7.50	$15,600.00
Services	33%	$240.00	$6.00	$12,480.00
Trade	19%	$240.00	$6.00	$12,480.00

This data from the employment commission reinforces the above:

In the last 10 years, we have lost 1,059 people in Bristol Virginia. In the past 40 years, we have gained 223 in population. We are a small community of about 17,400. Two-thirds of the households have a combined income of less than $30,000; 5.6 percent have combined income of $60,000 or more.

That's why our residents are often forced to work 2-3 jobs just to survive. The real winners here are three groups one of them not mentioned: Government employees get the good jobs and benefits unlike much of the private sector employment. Professionals do real well as do those that still have jobs in mining which continues to decline. Move-in retirees make far more than the average private-sector worker. Transfer payments are the biggest single source of income in Bristol and government spending is what floats the economy of Southwest Virginia.

Note that what I did above is based on incomplete information and will vary from county to county. The conclusion is those that work for government get the good jobs, while those without connections are out of luck.