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 to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to a new report released Nov. 9 by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy (WVCBP), low workforce participation in the Mountain State is due to an older, unhealthy and undereducated population. The report examines what a low labor force participation level means, why so many West Virginia’s workers are not in the workforce, and what can be done to get them back on the job.
