Alleghany Employment Statistics

We’ve got about 10,700 people living in Alleghany Count these days of which about 2300 (22%) are 19 years or less in age and 2100 (20%) are 65 years or more in age. If we assume the youngsters are pre-school and school kids and the oldsters are retirees, the remaining 6300 (58%) are adults in the prime of their lives. So, you ask, just what is it that they do with their days?

Well, about 4700 of them are employed in some way, about 200 are unemployed but want to be, and the balance of about 1400 are unemployed and not in the labor pool for one reason or another. This group includes college students, stay-at-home housewives and mothers, the disabled and, of course, welfare recipients of all kinds.

Of the 4700 employed persons, about 2600 (55%) work in the private sector and about 700 (15%) are government employees. The balance of 1400 persons (30%) is self-employed and includes such folks as doctors, lawyers, farmers and contract workers of all kinds (Christmas tree workers, carpenters, masons, back hoe operators, and the like.)

Putting it all together now we get:

• Youngsters – 2300 (21%)


• Private Sector Employees – 2600 (24%)


• Self Employed – 1400 (13%)


• Government Employees – 700 (7%)


• Unemployed – 200 (2%)


• Not in Labor Pool – 1400 (13%)


• Oldsters – 2100 (20%)