Not only is the opioid epidemic destroying families in the Tri-Cities, but it's also putting a stranglehold on the community's ability to grow.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in Kingsport, Bristol, Tenn. and Bristol, Virginia is 3.8 percent, though 7,000 fewer people are participating in the labor force than there were in 2008.
Similarly, the unemployment rate in Johnson City is 3.8 percent, but an even greater amount of people, 10,000, have left the labor market in the last decade.
Employers who require candidates to pass a drug screen are finding it increasingly more difficult to recruit reliable workers.
"We're a member of Tennessee Drug Free Workplace and we drug screen potential employees. And a lot of candidates when you discuss having to take a drug screen, conversation is over," said Skip Burleson, the vice chairman of Burleson Construction.
Few industries have benefited more from our country's economic recovery than construction. Burleson says Burleson Construction has 20 people on staff, with the capacity of 20 more.
Fully staffed, Burleson believes his company could pursue far more contracts.
"We are very aware of what kind of backlog we have and what kind of manpower requirement we have so that we don't get ourselves backed into a corner," Burleson said.
A Princeton economist released a report through the Brookings Institute which shows the combined effect of opioid prescription rates in counties with the greatest changes in labor force participation.
ETSU's Angela Hagaman researches prescription drug abuse. She says employers are beginning to become part of the solution in the battle against the opioid epidemic, but maintains there are many different factors that go into workforce participation.
"It's a huge paradigm shift to begin changing the work culture so that we're addressing substance use, addressing absenteeism very early, having conversations that look like a mental health conversation," Hagaman said.
Burleson is excited about state initiatives to support work force development through trade schools and community colleges, and hopes to soon hire as many graduates as he can.