For Immediate Release: November 5, 2025
Contact: Renee Alves
Charleston, WV – Each year the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy releases our annual State of Working West Virginia report, which examines the Mountain State’s economy through the lens of its workers—the people who power our state and economy. While each year’s report has a slightly different focus, one consistent theme is the need to ask this simple question: How are the people who do the work faring?
This year’s addition, the 18th installment in our State of Working West Virginia series, gives an overall picture of the state’s workforce, with a deep dive into the state of the public sector workforce, made up of local, state, and federal government employees. We wanted to zero in public sector workers, given that they are under fire— at the federal level with DOGE cuts, funding freezes, and mass layoffs, and at the state and local levels amid the pressures of a shrinking state budget and a slowing economy. Despite all that, public sector workers are essential to the lives of West Virginians each day: teaching and caring for our children, building and maintaining our roads and infrastructure, responding to floods and fires, and helping families access programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
With 151,100 West Virginia workers employed by the public sector, including 26,600 federal employees, 46,700 state employees, and 77,800 local employees, the public sector is the largest of the state’s major employment sectors. While the public sector is a larger employer in West Virginia than in most other states, public sector employees face relatively low wages—particularly for college graduates and teachers—compared to workers in other states.
The public sector is a critical source of jobs at the county level. Local government jobs in particular are important in many counties, with county boards of education often among the largest employers in a given county.
Many of the demographics of the public sector are like those of the private sector in the state. One major difference between the public and private sectors pertains to gender. The public sector is an important source of jobs for women in West Virginia, with women making up over 58 percent of public sector jobs, compared to just 34 percent of private sector jobs.
Public sector employment has experienced different rates of growth in 2025 at the federal, state, and local levels. Public sector employment growth has lagged the overall state average, in part due to a shrinking state budget despite large revenue surpluses, as the state has prioritized income tax cuts over investments in state needs.
While this year’s edition of the report centers on West Virginia’s public sector workers, it also looks into the state’s economy as a whole.
“The State of Working West Virginia presents a mixed picture of West Virginia’s economy,” says senior policy analyst and report author, Sean O’Leary. “While a strong recovery post-pandemic saw jobs quickly return, that growth stagnated in 2024. Instead of building on this robust recovery, West Virginia saw its growth lag the rest of the country, with most of the state’s growth occurring within the health care sector. West Virginia ranked near the bottom in several important economic indicators in 2024, including job growth, wages, and labor force participation.”
Policies that give workers more power, put more money in the pockets of working families, promote public health, and strengthen the public sector will benefit all West Virginians. Our report concludes with the following policy recommendations that address weaknesses in the state’s economy and can improve the lives of families and workers more broadly:
Read the full report.
