Workforce West Virginia recently released 2013 data on employment and wages that show West Virginia has about 7,000 fewer jobs (on average) in 2013 than it did in 2012. In contrast, two weeks ago the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released state data for real Gross Domestic Product growth that showed West Virginia's economy grew…
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Last week, the CDC released new data from its biennial Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). The YRBSS surveys thousands of middle and high school aged youth across the country, questioning them about a number of health and behavioral risk factors, everything from diet to alcohol use to sexual activity. The survey is large enough…
The WVU Board of Governors announced yesterday that the state's flagship university would be raising its in-state tuition by 8% this year, and by 4% for out-of-state students. The increase amounts to about $500 for in-state students, bringing tuition at WVU to just under $7,000 per year. In addition to tuition, on-campus housing and meal costs are also…
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute outlines the recent risk to the U.S. steel industry from a rapid increase in steel imports. According to the report, in facing the lack of demand in the aftermath of the Great Recession, steelmakers in other countries continued to add production capacity with government support. As the U.S. recovered…
Most state and local tax systems are regressive, with a reliance on sales tax and relatively flat income tax brackets leading to the poor paying more of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthy. West Virginia is no different, with West Virginians who earn less than $15,000/year paying an average of 8.7%…
Obamacare, like it or not, seems to be working. While some headlines this week showed that the popularity of Obamacare continues to slide, recent surveys are finding the percentage of uninsured people across the country is at historic lows. (Oddly, popularity of the Affordable Care Act, which we all know -- should know, at least -- …
A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that West Virginia is not alone in making cuts to higher education in recent years, but unlike West Virginia, most states are starting to reverse those cuts, as the effects of the recession fade away. The report shows that after adjusting for inflation,…
West Virginia is one of the least healthy states in the country. With the implementation of the ACA, roughly 270,000 more West Virginians have access to medical care. This increase in health care services is a huge step toward a healthy state, but access to medical care is only one piece of the puzzle. Every day…
George Hohmann has an excellent piece (and graph) in today's Charleston Daily Mail on the uneven recovery among the state's industry sectors. In a nut shell, since we are an energy state and are heavily reliant on federal transfers (think about our elders: Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security), we've seen strong growth in the mining and health care…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the release of a bunch of Medicare data today, the biggest release in CMS history, in fact. The data include information for nearly 900,000 distinct health care providers across the country who received over $77 billion in Medicare payments in 2012. This is the second big…