West Virginia Watch – WorkForce West Virginia recently released data that shows the state’s labor force has been in a steady decline for the last 14 months.
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The Mountain State has lost more than 4,000 jobs and about 7,600 people from its workforce in the last year. The amount of people leaving the workforce is more than the amount of jobs lost because our workforce is aging, retiring and we have a high rate of people with a disability or chronic illness that can’t work or have trouble finding work, according to Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. There’s also people who decide to no longer work so that they can stay home to care for a child or family member.
At least 400 federal jobs have been lost in West Virginia from cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but that number could be higher, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Data related to those cuts is delayed, and doesn’t include recent layoffs or employees who were placed on administrative leave or took involuntary buyouts.
