Income and Work

June 4, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Growing Working Class Economic Insecurity at the Heart of West Virginia Woes

Over the last four decades, West Virginia's economy has shifted from producing less goods (e.g. steel, chemicals, etc.) to providing more services. While the rest of the country also underwent this economic shift - often referred to as deindustrialization - it was especially problematic in the Mountain State. While the state has made strides to…

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May 10, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Income Inequality at Historic High in West Virginia

Last year, Ted showed, using ACS data, that income inequality was on the rise in West Virginia since 2006. But as it turns out, income inequality has been on the rise in West Virginia for almost 40 years. Mark Frank, an economist at Sam Houston State University, has used IRS records to put together state…

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April 26, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Freedom for Whom? 50 State Index Guided By Libertarian Ideology, Not Freedom

Yesterday, Sean showed that ranking well on the libertarian 50 State "Freedom" index doesn't mean your state performs better economically nor does it have any relation to low poverty or higher wages. While Sean looked at the numbers, I would like to talk about the qualitative side of the equation. What does the Mercatus Center…

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April 25, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia Lacks “Freedom,” Should We Worry?

Earlier this month, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University released the 3rd edition of the Freedom in the 50 States rankings, which measures fiscal, regulatory, and personal "freedom." The study shares some similarities with the previously discussed Economic Freedom Index, both in how it defines freedom, and its relationship with real world economic measures. Freedom…

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April 5, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Overall, Natural Resource Extraction Jobs Are Growing in W.Va.

While there has been lots of shouting about the state losing coal jobs, as a whole, the state's natural resource extraction employment picture looks very healthy. All together, employment in the natural gas and coal industry reached almost 37,000 in the third quarter of 2012 - its highest point over the last ten years. While…

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April 3, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Fixing Job Applications Could Help Ex-Felons Gain Employment

While the governor's prison reform bill (SB 371) is being debated in the House, they might want to think about removing barriers that make it very difficult for ex-felons gain employment. If one of our goals is help reduce recidivism and help ex-felons enter the workforce, the state will need to end counter-productive practices that…

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March 28, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Job Impact Statements: Can They Work?

On Tuesday the Senate passed SB 187  that would require the Commerce Department to create a jobs impact statement or study on proposed legislation that could impact the state's economy.  The price tag from the commerce department is $262,000 per year, enough to add two additional staff to its Research Unit to prepare these statements.…

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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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