While the newest jobs numbers indicate that 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 the economy. While the state has seen relatively steady job growth in recent…
Budget Beat
Racism has long been weaponized in order to divide workers, but unions have the unique power to bring people with varying identities together. The time has come for the working class to form a united front once again. One of the greatest weapons that individual workers have against companies and corporations is unity. Class solidarity…
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 poverty after taking into…
State of Working West Virginia 2021: Labor, Race, and Solidarity is out now! The 14th edition of the WVCBP's State of Working West Virginia series explores the interrelated declines of worker power and economic equality in the Mountain State. The report was written in three parts. Part 1 examines the economic transition that took place in…
It is no question that students in West Virginia and across the country suffered academic losses in connection to COVID-19’s impacts on instruction and learning time. Our new issue brief explores how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) education funds can be utilized to address these losses, as well as longstanding challenges and racial inequity in West Virginia…
In June, Gov. Justice prematurely ended all federally funded pandemic unemployment benefit programs. These enhanced unemployment benefits, which the governor terminated 12 weeks before required, have played a major role in West Virginia’s economic recovery. The governor justified his decision to end the enhanced benefits by claiming that doing so would encourage people to return to work.…
As a result of SB 648 (passed in 2020), this year West Virginia began offering a dental benefit for adults over the age of 21 who are enrolled in WV Medicaid. Our newest blog post takes a look at how this new benefit has impacted WV Medicaid members. Nearly one in five West Virginia adults gained access to dental benefits via Medicaid this…
In her first blog post for the WVCBP, summer research associate Myya Helm explores the decline in worker power in West Virginia since the 1980s and highlights the role of organized labor for the state's Black workers and how unions are critical to the pursuit of equity in the workforce. Despite ample evidence that unionization…
West Virginia FY 2021 revenue collections are $413 million above estimates, but as of May 2021, the state was still down 36,000 jobs. How is this possible? Our new blog post breaks down a few significant contributors: delaying Tax Dayreceiving an influx of federal COVID relief dollarsbeginning with relatively low revenue estimates These crucial pieces of…
Last week, the Legislature provided a one-year relief to county governments by freezing the current regional jail per diem at $48.25, rather than allowing it to increase as scheduled to reflect the true daily cost of jail incarceration, nearly $55. Our new blog post explains why this temporary relief is simply a band-aid fix for county budgets…