Cast Your Vote for the 2016 Our Children Our Future Policy Platform - Deadline Wednesday! Time is running out to vote for the top issues that will become next year's platform to help end child poverty in West Virginia. Take a minute and vote for your top five choices today! Help us put a West…
The Census Bureau released the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) this week, which contains data on poverty, income, and health insurance coverage for all 50 states. For West Virginia, the data release had both some really good and some not-so-good news. First the good news. The 2014 ACS release was to first to have data…
Last Week to Register for Our Children Our Future Policy Summit! It's almost here! It's almost time for the Our Children Our Future Policy Summit. Have you registered yet? We are partial but think you'll especially want to attend the panel discussion on Participatory Budgeting, Tax Reform and the state Earned Income Tax Credit featuring…
How much money does it take to make ends meet in West Virginia? A new Family Budget calculator from the Economic Policy Institute shows what is required for families to attain a secure yet modest standard of living in rural and urban communities in West Virginia. While the cost of living around West Virginia varies for…
In honor of Women's Equality Day, recognizing the certification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) released a new report on women in unions. The report found that women in unions earn more than women who are not in a union in every state including West…
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment and unemployment survey for July 2015 and the news for West Virginia's economy continues to be bad. West Virginia not only has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 7.5 percent, it is also the only state to have lost a statistically significant number of…
by Brooke Bailey, 2015 Summer Research AssociateOn July 30, 1965 - fifty years ago - President Lyndon Johnson signed a piece of legislation into law that would one day provide assistance to over 70 million people across the United States. Since its adoption, Medicaid has provided health coverage to the states' most vulnerable populations.Medicaid directly…
Andrew Brown has a good piece in the Gazette-Mail highlighting that West Virginia now has the nation's highest unemployment rate. West Virginia's economic recovery since the Great Recession (December 2007) has been bumpy but it now appears that the state may be entering a new downturn. Overall, West Virginia has lost 1.1 percent of its…
Yesterday, an op-ed appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail penned by Bryan Hoylman, the president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors of West Virginia. Mr. Hoylman's op-ed was strongly anti-prevailing wage, going so far as comparing the state's prevailing wage to "larceny." But, while the op-ed was strong on rhetoric, it was weak on…
On Monday, the Joint Select Committee on Taxation met again to discuss revising our state's tax system. The focus of this meeting was on local property taxation, especially as it impacts the coal and natural gas industries. During the meeting, John Mairs, a lawyer for the coal industry, stated that he "would love to have…
