This thesis constructs a novel resilience index and a comparative advantage measure of professional skills to enhance our understanding of economic resilience in Appalachian counties that are vulnerable to the transition to a greener economy. The index-based results indicate that resilience is clustered throughout the region and strongly related to local labor market demand for the skills required to complete non-routine cognitive tasks. Resilient labor markets hold a comparative advantage over their less resilient counterparts in twelve skills. These skills are highly prevalent in growing and emerging occupations and strongly related to resilience in the existing literature on regional economic shocks. This thesis also develops a database that enables future researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders to geospatially analyze skill prevalence at a county level and make informed and proactive decisions in the face of a changing economy. / Master of Science / This thesis constructs a novel resilience index and a measure of professional skills to enhance our understanding of economic resilience in Appalachian counties that are exposed to changes to the workforce. The results indicate that resilience is clustered throughout the region and strongly related to the skills required for rapidly growing and emerging occupations. Resilient labor markets hold a comparative advantage over their less resilient counterparts in twelve key skills. These skills are highly prevalent in vital to the literature and closely related to the ability of local economies to withstand recessions and other economic disruptions. My thesis also develops a database that enables future research, policymakers, and industry leaders to easily understand the professional skills found in counties to make informed and proactive decisions in the face of a changing economy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/111772 |
| Date | 08 September 2022 |
| Creators | Pierce, Timothy Samuel |
| Contributors | Agricultural and Applied Economics, Chen, Susan Elizabeth, Gupta, Anubhab, Alwang, Jeffrey R. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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