Contact: Sean O'Leary at 304-720-8682, soleary@wvpolicy.org Read report New Report Highlights the Need for Transparency and Evaluation of Tax Incentives –West Virginia spends millions of dollars each year on tax incentives to attract businesses and boost job creation, but taxpayers and policymakers have little information about whether or not they are getting their money's worth and…
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In addition to the high unemployment that has plagued West Virginia since the end of the recession, today's release of the 2011 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau shows hundreds of thousands of West Virginia children continued to live in poverty throughout the state. Read
There are more West Virginians living in poverty and trying to survive without health care, according to data released today from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. Read
While the state slowly recovers from the Great Recession, struggles remain. There is only one job opening for every four people looking for work, the state has the lowest workforce participation rate in the nation, and West Virginia workers earn, on average, one dollar less an hour than the national average. Raising the minimum wage,…
If the federal government increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 per hour it would give an estimated 182,000 workers in West Virginia a raise while also generating approximately 800 new jobs over three years, $300 million in additional wages, and $200 million in state economic activity. This according to a new report released…
If significant new revenue isn't included, efforts to reduce federal deficits would almost certainly damage West Virginia's economic recovery and future economic growth by drastically cutting federal investments in schools, roads and bridges, safe communities, and disaster relief. Read
In times of economic uncertainty, employers are sometimes forced to lay-off their workers to cut costs and stay profitable. Lay-offs hurt employees and can cause businesses to lose experienced workers. Instead, companies can use work sharing, a voluntary program that allows employers to use unemployment benefits to retain their workers and avert lay-offs. Read
Middle-income and low-income West Virginians would pay somewhat more in taxes under the House's approach to extending the Bush tax cuts than they would under President Obama's approach, while high-income West Virginians would pay far less under the House approach, according to a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens…
More than one in six small business owners in the United States is an immigrant, according to a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute's Immigration Research Initiative. Immigrants -- people born in another country -- make up 18 percent of all small business owners in the United States. By contrast, immigrants are 13 percent…
According to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute, employer-sponsored health insurance has declined for the tenth year in a row nationwide, from 59.4% in 2009 to 58.6% in 2010. Read