Blog

July 12, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Falling Coal Mining Productivity Boosts Jobs

As Sean and I have both touched on, one of the central factors causing the decline in Central Appalachia coal production is the exhaustion of thicker, more easy to mine, coal seams. One way to gauge this trend is by looking at coal productivity. Coal productivity can be measured in two ways. The Energy Information…

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July 10, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
Ending Environmental Regulations Won’t Save Central Appalachian Coal

Last month, using new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), Ted showed that West Virginia coal production is headed for a steep decline in the coming years, led by falling production in Central Appalachia. According to the EIA, "Appalachian coal production declines substantially from current levels, as coal produced from the extensively mined, higher cost reserves…

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July 6, 2012 by Ted Boettner
WV Medicaid Expansion Makes Cents

The Daily Mail today is trying to scare folks about the Medicaid expansion contained in the Affordable Care Act. Not only does the Daily Mail fail to mention any of the economic and health benefits of providing health insurance to over 121,000 uninsured low-income working families, they insist on using large numbers out of context.…

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June 25, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Energy Projections Show Decline in Southern WV Coal

Today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its annual energy outlook that Includes projections for regional coal production from 2009 to 2035. EIA is expecting a very steep decline in central Appalachian coal production and a slight increase in production in northern Appalachia. According to EIA, West Virginia is included in both central and…

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June 25, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Monday Morning Review

Last week, Senator Jay Rockefeller gave an historic and courageous speech on the future of coal and the EPA (MACT) rule to limit contaminants and mercury emissions from coal fired power plants. Ken Ward analyzes the speech at Coal Tattoo so we don't have to. As the Center for American Progress (CAP) points out, this…

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June 19, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Job Growth in the U.S. Mining Industry

While the country is struggling to dig itself out of the Lesser Depression, the mining industry (oil, gas, and coal) has fared much better than most industries over the last three years. Currently, the unemployment rate in the mining industry is 4.5 percent, which is close to full employment, compared to 7.9 percent nationally. As…

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June 15, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Is Natural Gas Employment Growing? Yes

Over at the Wheeling Intelligencer there seems to be some confusion about the growth and the number of natural gas jobs in the state, with estimates ranging from about 2,200 to over 16,000. Compiled below is a breakdown of natural gas sector job growth based on an analysis we did back in November. These annual…

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June 6, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Coal Employment (Updated)

As we discussed in a previous post, coal mining employment has risen over the last three years. Today, Workforce WV released job figures for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the annual average of 2011. Included in this release is coal mining employment. The two charts below use this new data to update our previous…

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June 6, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
Raising the Social Security Tax Cap

Last year, legislation was introduced in Congress to apply the Social Security payroll tax to earnings above $250,000, to help alleviate Social Security's long term budget shortfall. Currently, wages over a certain yearly total ($110,100 this year) are exempted from Social Security payroll taxes. Raising or eliminating this cap could help strengthen Social Security's finances, but for…

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May 24, 2012 by Ted Boettner
More Seniors Working in West Virginia

On Friday, Floyd Norris of the New York Times had a piece on the increase in seniors working since 2006.  In West Virginia, we've seen a similar pattern. In 2011, approximately 13.2 percent of those 65 and older were employed compared to just 9.0 percent in 2006. In comparison, in 2011 49.9 percent of all…

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