Pennsylvania Business Report - ReImagine Appalachia, an organization of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia labor leaders, policy experts and community leaders, urged U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to support President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation in an open letter Sunday. Read the full article. Published as a full-page ad in the Charleston Gazette-Mail,…
Economy
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous challenges for West Virginia workers, from unsafe working conditions to unprecedented job losses. While some areas of West Virginia’s economy are recovering, the job market is far from pre-pandemic levels and employment gains have not been equally distributed. Further, increasing COVID-19 cases remain a threat to workers' health and…
West Virginia MetroNews - A little more than half of West Virginia residents believe the state’s economy is on the wrong track. Read the full article. That’s according to the latest MetroNews West Virginia Poll, which surveyed 400 registered voters August 20-25. Fifty-four percent of respondents said the state’s economy is headed the wrong way.…
WOWK, Opera News - On Inside West Virginia Politics, Myya Helm is a research associate for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy who helped write their annual report called “Labor, Race, and Solidarity.” Her study showed the division between Black, White and European miners — the immigrants who came in to fill the…
West Virginia MetroNews - Gov. Jim Justice announced today that the administration paid off the final $185 million on an interest-free federal loan that had been used as cushion for the state’s unemployment trust fund. Read the full article. The administration had set aside hundreds of millions of dollars in CARES Act funding in anticipation of paying…
For Immediate Release: September 2, 2021Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Today over 30 non-profit, advocacy, and direct service organizations representing West Virginia workers and families called on U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and West Virginia's entire federal delegation to support a robust budget resolution that meets the needs of the moment. Supports for workers and families…
Jackson Newspapers - A "help wanted" sign has lived in the Downtowner's front window for a year. Before the COVID pandemic began, the restaurant had seven employees. Now it has four. Two, not including the owners. Read the full article. Dave and Melissa took over the restaurant nine years ago. The American homestyle restaurant survived the…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - In his 27 years as an underground coal miner in West Virginia, Gary Hairston noticed that it took some backup to breathe easier. Read the full article. “There was a lot better protection in a union mine,” Hairston recalled. “The union backs you.” Hairston found that a union representative would investigate miners’…
Thanks to the programs enacted through COVID-related federal relief legislation this past year, an estimated 301,000 fewer West Virginians were living in poverty this year than would have been otherwise, a reduction of 71 percent, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute estimating the state's Supplemental Poverty Measure. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) measures…
This report was co-authored by Sean O'Leary, senior policy analyst, and Myya Helm, summer research associate. Read the full report here. Introduction As West Virginia recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, its path forward remains unclear. For many years, West Virginia has lagged behind the nation in many positive economic indicators, with low earnings…