Income and Work

July 18, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
Reducing Layoffs: How Work Sharing Can Help Workers and Businesses in West Virginia

In times of economic uncertainty, instead of sending trained staff to the unemployment line, companies in 24 states and the District of Columbia can use work sharing. This voluntary program allows employers to use unemployment benefits to retain their workers and avert lay-offs. Work sharing could be particularly helpful to West Virginia's mining and construction…

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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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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 14, 2012 by Sean O'Leary
May 2012 Jobs Count

Disappointing Job Trends Continue in May - West Virginia saw its total nonfarm employment fall for the fourth straight month, losing 1,900 jobs between April and May. Although monthly losses have not been as large as at the beginning of 2009, a similar pattern seems to be emerging. Nonfarm employment remains below its prerecession level. In…

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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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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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May 17, 2012 by Ted Boettner
The Middle Class Creates Jobs, Not Business

Brad Delong sends us to this great speech (and presentation) from venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, which was recently banned from TED. More on that here. His remarks remind me of the Robert Reich axiom: You can't have a strong economy without a strong middle class. While businesses and the 1% love tax cuts, it has…

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May 12, 2012 by Ted Boettner
1,500 Coal Mining Jobs Created Since Obama Took Office (Updated)

Over at Coal Tattoo, Ken Ward has a must read piece on why state politicians and the media avoid having a balanced discussion regarding the impact of the coal industry. One of the central reasons why our state is unable to have a rational discussion is the propaganda and inflammatory rhetoric coming from the coal…

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May 11, 2012 by Ted Boettner
1,500 Coal Mining Jobs Created Since Obama Took Office

Over at Coal Tattoo, Ken Ward has a must read piece on why state politicians and the media avoid having a balanced discussion regarding the impact of the coal industry. One of the central reasons why our state is unable to have a rational discussion is the propaganda and inflammatory rhetoric coming from the coal…

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