Charleston Gazette – The recent recession may have ended, but West Virginia workers aren’t better off than they were before, according to the annual “State of Working West Virginia” report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Read
The center released its 2014 report Tuesday, exploring the state’s economic recovery and shifting energy market. “While the economy is recovering, and gross domestic product has grown, you don’t really see a healthier economy,” said Sean O’Leary, fiscal policy analyst at the center. “Our wages haven’t grown along with our GDP — our productivity has gone up but our compensation hasn’t.”
The state’s real gross domestic product grew 5.1 percent from 2012 to 2013, earning the third-highest GDP growth rate in the nation. However, in that same time period, West Virginia ranked last in job growth, losing more than 7,000 jobs.
