Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia has the highest rate of unemployment in the country, with more than 7 percent of the state's workforce left without a job. ReadBut a new report released by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Monday says the state's labor problems go much deeper than the roughly 57,000 job…
WVCBP in the News
The State Journal - There's no question West Virginia has struggled with the nation's lowest levels of labor force participation for decades. Read The Mountain State ranks last nationally in labor force participation with only a little over 50 percent of the state's residents currently working – 9.9 percentage points below the national average, according…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - The Kanawha County Commission is worrying about their budget. ReadLooking at a $600,000 deficit in the budget, the commission approved the first phase of an attempt to reduce the amount they spend on health insurance for county employees.The new policy will affect all county employees, which is about 400 people. Those in…
Triblive.com - Signs of a developing shale gas economy abound in Marshall County, W.Va. ReadThey dot the Ohio River south of Moundsville along state Route 2, where glistening fractionation towers rise above gas processing plants, powered by new electric substations across the highway. They fill parking lots with pickups, some with the out-of-state license plates…
Beckley Register-Herald - In October elected officials sitting on the Select Joint Committee on Tax Reform committee heard from the conservative The Tax Foundation that eliminating the business personal property tax would create jobs and grow the economy. Read However, a recent study by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy found the business…
Beckley Register-Herald - Everyone who cares about racial issues in Appalachia is invited to attend a two-day event at New River Community and Technical College's newly-opened Kyle and Ann Fort Arts and Sciences Building in Lewisburg. Read"Summit on Race Matters: Continuing Conversations" will begin with registration and light refreshments at 5 p.m. on Nov. 10.…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - About 70,000 West Virginians who were part of the state's Medicaid expansion are employed in jobs ranging from food service to construction to health care, according to Families USA and West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. ReadIn a report released Tuesday, Families USA notes that the study was based on "the 127,000…
More than 20 people representing non-profit organizations and business associations let state lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Tax Reform know their ideas for how the state's tax code should be amended. ReadBut after listening to all the speakers, the committee's co-chairs are still in a quandary about which taxes should be overhauled. State revenues,…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - After six months of input from economists, academics and government officials, the Select Committee on Tax Reform on Tuesday opened the floor to 33 individuals and representatives of various groups and organizations to hear their thoughts on revamping West Virginia's tax system. Read"I'm intrigued to see where the passion is," committee co-chairman…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - The debate over drug testing public assistance recipients was revisited in an interim session Monday. One of the issues on the table is how to make a pilot program work without costing the state additional dollars that are hard to come by. Read/ListenThe Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human…