Income and Work

March 19, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Jobs Count Special Edition: Jobs (Mis)Count

Each month, we put out our Jobs Count publication, which reports on the state's jobs numbers, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics (CES). Each month, the BLS revises the previous month's numbers, but the revisions are typically small, and usually don't change the overall picture. However, at the beginning of each…

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March 14, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
191,000 Workers in WV Would Benefit From a Minimum Wage Increase

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute looks the economic impact of Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which was introduced in Congress in response to President Obama's call to raise the minimum wage made during this year's State of the Union address. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would raise the minimum…

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January 31, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Home Ownership in West Virginia: Quality vs. Quantity

As many people may know, West Virginia ranks very high in home ownership among the 50 states. In fact, according to the latest Assets & Opportunities Scorecard released by the Corporation for Economic Development, West Virginia had the 3rd highest rate of home ownership in the nation in 2011 at 72.3 percent.  While home ownership…

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January 18, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
December 2012 – Jobs Count

West Virginia Ends 2012 on a Positive Note Total nonfarm employment grew by 900 jobs in December, ending 10 straight months of job loss for the state. West Virginia had a total of 746,900 jobs in December, still 13,400 jobs below its prerecession level (Figure 1). West Virginia’s unemployment rate rose to 7.5 percent, up…

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January 7, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Newsflash: Not All Government Employees Work for the State

In an awkward criticism, gossip columnist Phil Kabler at the Charleston Gazette has taken exception to our monthly Jobs Count report, which is a straight forward report on the employment and unemployment numbers in the state, with the data coming directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Phil's point of contention with last month's Jobs Count…

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December 21, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
November 2012 – Jobs Count

November Another Setback for Jobs in West Virginia November marked West Virginia’s tenth month in a row of job losses. Total nonfarm employment fell by 900 jobs taking it to 13,900 jobs below the state’s prerecession level and it lowest level since early 2010 (Figure 1). The state’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.3 percent…

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December 18, 2012 by WVCBP
West Virginia Families Benefit From Free Bargaining

Michigan has become the 24th state to pass "right-to-work" legislation. Essentially that means collective bargaining agreements cannot require nonunion employees to pay union dues. However, nonunion employees may still often benefit from wage agreements, a grievance process, and other benefits negotiated by the union. West Virginia does not have a "right-to-work" law, but some think…

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December 13, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
Forbes Best States For Business Don’t Always Have the Best Job Growth

Another day, another business climate ranking with a poor result for West Virginia, this time coming from the Forbes 2012 Best States for Business list, which ranks West Virginia as the 45th best state for business. Forbes first started ranking the states in 2006, so like I did earlier this week with the Economic Freedom…

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December 6, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
Collective Bargaining Agreements and Work Sharing

At a recent interim committee meeting regarding creating a work sharing program in West Virginia, concerns were raised over potential conflicts between work sharing and collective bargaining agreements. Fortunately, these concerns are easily addressed, and do not pose a hurdle for the creation of a work sharing program in West Virginia. Work sharing allows employers, in…

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November 25, 2012 by Ted Boettner
Is West Virginia’s “Skills Gap” Really a Wage Gap?

We often hear that one of the state's biggest economic problems is a skills mismatch. More specifically, we are told that manufacturing firms in the state cannot find enough qualified workers and that this is holding up our state's economic recovery. The problem with this argument, as we've pointed out before, is that it is…

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