Less than half of all West Virginia jobs (49%) will require some post-secondary education training beyond high school in 2018, according to a recent study from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce. West Virginia was the lowest among all the states plus the District of Columbia. West Virginia ranks 51st in the proportion…
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Here is an animated "heat map" that shows how unemployment rates have changed across the state during the recession. While the national recession officially began in late 2007, it didn't begin to impact West Virginia until late 2008. The map tracks unemployment rates by county from August 2008 to August 2010. As the unemployment rate…
America remains a nation of jobless workers; nearly 15 million Americans have no job to get up to each morning. Among them are 70,000 West Virginians who also remain unemployed. While the 2008 US recession officially ended in June 2009 large US corporations are no worse for the wear and tear as they have managed…
Earlier this week, the Census Bureau released the 2009 data from the American Community Survey, which we have a summary for West Virginia here. The poverty rate in West Virginia increased from 16.9% in 2007, before the recession, to 17.7% in 2009. This increase, while not good, is not as much as one would expect considering…
There's been considerable press over the last couple of years about the costs associated with the retiree health care subsidy (affectionately know as OPEB or Other Post Employment Benefits) offered to state and local employees. I've written about it several times in the past. The basic story is that this subsidy is too generous and…
Here is an article done by the folks at the Center for Rural Strategies, which I may have stolen the title from, about the impact of the Great Recession on rural counties. West Virginia was one of four states, the others being Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia, that lost over 10 percent of their rural jobs. Since July…
Often when analysts or journalists look at economic growth over a long period of time, they tend to break things down by decade, comparing the 2000s to the 1990s and so on. Sometimes they will look at economic trends by presidential administration, often to tie economic growth or decline to particular administrations and their policies.…
Natural gas is quickly becoming one of the most important contributors to the nation's energy portfolio. Natural gas is a very versatile energy source and emits lower levels of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants than coal and oil. Natural gas will likely be an integral part of the nation's energy future. Natural gas production…
Congresswomen Capito argued in the Gazette on "Labor Day" (of all days...) to renew Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. In the op-ed, Capito resorted to presenting voters with a "false choice" about the Bush tax cuts and by presenting the facts in a way that would make Orwell blush. Here's Capito: "Contrary to popular belief, the…
There is bright news coming from the West Virginia State Budget Office August cash flow report. General Revenues collected in August are ahead of schedule, most likely due to increased sales in back-to-school purchases and improvements in business activity due to stimulus spending. General Revenue collections were up $31 million dollars at the end of…