A new report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research finds that 30 percent of working families (age 19-64) in West Virginia are economically insecure, which means they don't make enough money to meet basic monthly expenses (food, transportation, housing, utilities, etc.) and reach modest financial goals. The economic insecurity measures takes into account working adults that…
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State and local tax systems can be effectively used to boost economic opportunity, create broadly shared prosperity and build equitable state economies. But in most states, including West Virginia, tax systems are upside down and are making inequality worse, as a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows. The ITEP report examines the state…
The lowest-income West Virginians pay 21 percent more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state's wealthiest residents, according to a new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. The study, Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in…
Food for all. It's a simple concept most of us among West Virginia's hills agree with. No one should go hungry. That's why the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition and other partners are holding a one-day food summit - Food For All - to gather those across the…
West Virginia made headlines in recent months with a strong quarter of personal income growth. While some media outlets and politicians took the data as further evidence of the so-called "West Virginia comeback," subsequent releases of personal income data show that the strong quarter was more likely an anomaly than a sign of a trend. West Virginia's total personal income…
The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University released its annual Economic Outlook Report for the state earlier this month. West Virginia is expected to experience slow job growth, with employment forecasted to grow at an average rate of 0.4 percent per year for the next five years, according to the report's forecast. That's…
A decade since the Great Recession, state spending on higher education has yet to recover from years of deep cuts, including in West Virginia, according to a new report released today from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. West Virginia was one of 45 states that spent less per student in the 2018 school year than in 2008.…
Despite the rosy rhetoric, everything is not okay in West Virginia. Unemployment remains stubbornly high compared to the rest of the country, and, even as Appalachian counties overall seem to be on the rebound, West Virginia is not so lucky. We have seen a net increase in economic insecurity,with multiple counties heading in the wrong…
After adding jobs throughout most of 2017, West Virginia's economy is showing signs of slowing down in 2018, and the state has yet to fully recover from the Great Recession. Between May 2017 and February 2018, West Virginia added a seasonally adjusted 9,300 jobs. Since then, job growth has essentially stopped, with the exception of…
Former West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Outreach Coordinator and current Manna Meal Inc. Executive Director Tara Martinez penned this guest blog piece. Martinez brings a provider perspective that urges Congress to reject cuts to food assistance and pass the Senate Farm Bill. The House version - which dramatically cuts food assistance - and the Senate version - which…