This report is the seventh in an annual series that examines the state of West Virginia’s economy as it impacts working people. Each year, we examine the latest available data on employment, income, productivity and job quality as well as the immediate economic challenges and opportunities. Read PDF of report. The themes have varied from…
Reports & Briefs
On March 23, Governor Tomblin used his line-item veto power to cut several early childhood and domestic violence programs from the FY2015 budget passed by the legislature. This included over $1 million in cuts to In-Home Family Education, Family Resource Networks and Starting Points Family Resource Centers, Child Advocacy Centers, domestic violence programs and services,…
Executive Summary The first hydraulically fractured shale wells were drilled in Pennsylvania and West Virginia nearly a decade ago. Drawing on existing experiences in these states, and the rapid advance of hydrofracking in Ohio, we can begin to assess the effect of shale development on the most active drilling communities. As pressure mounts to increase…
With the 2014 Legislative Session ending without the completion of the FY 2015 budget, Governor Tomblin has called the legislature back into a special session. The House and the Senate have their own budget bills, as does the governor. All three must be reconciled into one bill before the budget can be finalized. Read PDF…
Governor Tomblin released his proposed FY 2015 budget last month and, for the second year in a row, made another round of cuts to programs and services instead of dealing with the state’s revenue problem. While his FY 2015 budget makes some improvements in public employee and teachers’ salaries, it continues to hurt the state’s…
For the better part of the 20th century, land ownership patterns in West Virginia remained virtually unchanged. Large energy and land-holding corporations bought up mineral-rich acres and held them until market conditions were favorable for mining, drilling or leasing. Two separate investigations – one by reporter Tom Miller in 1974 and another by the…
Over the last five years, firms with an economic interest in the expansion of drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations — and their allies, supporters, and trade associations — have used a variety of tools and techniques to exaggerate the employment impacts of shale drilling. These strategies have ranged from the use of…
The Affordable Care Act is expected to have a dramatic impact on access to health insurance in West Virginia. This will be especially true for racial and ethnic minorities. Even though the minority population in West Virginia is relatively small compared to other states, it is 50 percent more likely to lack health insurance than…
Falling revenues and rising costs have squeezed West Virginia’s budget in the past few years. Any new proposal or program gets extra scrutiny from legislators who must keep the budget balanced. But when legislators or taxpayers need an estimate of how much new legislation will cost or save the state, the information they receive is…
On April 14, 2013, the West Virginia House adopted HCR 107, expressing support for President Obama’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour and index it to inflation, in recognition of the decreasing value of the minimum wage and the idea that no one who works full-time should have to live…