Income and Work

November 14, 2017 by Sean O'Leary
Poverty in West Virginia: Lack of Progress and New Threats Ahead

Sustained economic gains and strong federal and state programs have led to welcome progress in the nationwide fight against poverty over the last several years. This is good news. But West Virginia isn’t sharing in the national progress, as poverty here remains stagnant.  And actions from Congress and the Trump administration threaten to increase poverty…

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October 16, 2017 by WVCBP
New Report: Poverty in West Virginia Stagnate and New Threats Ahead

For Immediate Release Media Contact: Caitlin Cook, 304.543.4879 Sustained economic gains and strong federal and state programs have led to welcomed progress in the nationwide fight against poverty over the last several years.  This is good news.  But West Virginia is not sharing in the national progress, as poverty here remains stagnant.  And actions from…

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September 8, 2017 by Sean O'Leary
State of Working West Virginia – 2017

Poverty is a persistent problem in West Virginia, where tens of thousands of West Virginians live in poverty because their jobs do not pay a living wage. Read the full report. This 10th annual State of Working West Virginia focuses on low-wage work, including demographics of those who do the work; the industries that employ…

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December 12, 2016 by Ted Boettner, Sean O'Leary
State of Working West Virginia 2016

A persistent question for those who pondered West Virginia’s fate is a simple: why, in a state rich in natural resources, are West Virginians so poor? For more than a century several explanations have been developed by natives and interested “outsiders.” Read the report. This report, the ninth annual investigation of The State of Working…

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November 9, 2015 by Sean O'Leary, Ted Boettner
State of Working West Virginia 2015

This report is the eighth in an annual series that examines the state of West Virginia’s economy. While previous editions examined data on employment, income, productivity, job quality and other aspects of the economy as they impact working people, this issue is an in-depth look at one specific economic measure - West Virginia’s labor force…

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August 26, 2015 by Sean O'Leary
Unionized Women Earn More in West Virginia

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…

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August 24, 2015 by Ted Boettner
West Virginia’s Jobs Crisis Continues in July

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…

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July 16, 2015 by Ted Boettner
Fast Facts: “Right-to-Work” Won’t Boost West Virginia’s Economy

“Right-to-Work” laws do not guarantee jobs for workers. Instead they prohibit unions and employers from including a provision in contracts that requires employees who benefit from union representation to pay for their fair share toward those costs. PDF of Fast Facts. Some state lawmakers argue that if West Virginia adopted a so-called “right-to-work” (RTW) law…

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July 10, 2015 by Sean O'Leary
Fast Facts: Ending West Virginia’s Prevailing Wage Won’t Reduce Costs

Some lawmakers are claiming West Virginia’s prevailing wage overpays construction workers and inflates the costs of public construction projects, but the evidence does not support these claims. Ending the state’s prevailing wage is likely to have no impact on public construction costs but could hurt the living standards of construction workers and the competitiveness of…

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March 30, 2015 by Ted Boettner
West Virginia Unrecovered: No Job Gains Since 2008

It has been over seven years since the beginning of the Great Recession. While the country is finally beginning to recover from the biggest recession since the Great Depression, West Virginia's rocky recovery has yet to fully materialize. In fact, over the last couple of years the state's job growth has been non-existent. At the…

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