We know much more about West Virginia workers thanks to new research by the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. The school’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research is out with a detailed look at the make-up of the workforce.
Here are some of the more interesting findings:
–118-thousand students graduated from public higher education institutions in the state over the last decade and nearly half of them (48 percent) were working in West Virginia in 2012. Students who received the Promise Scholarship or a need-based grant were more likely to stay in the state. Nearly 60 percent of Promise Scholars over the last ten years had jobs in West Virginia in 2012, while 66-percent of the needs-based scholars remained here to work.
–The average annual income for in-state college graduates who stayed in West Virginia to work was just under $42,000 in 2012. Grads who went into the coal business made the highest salaries, averaging $71,400. The arts, entertainment, recreation, hotel and food services were among the lowest paying jobs for graduates.
–More than half of all graduates here work in just two industries—health care/social assistance (27 percent) and education (23 percent).
–Four out of ten graduates work in just three counties—Kanawha, Monongalia and Cabell. “Graduates were over-represented in counties with larger metropolitan areas and institutions of higher education.” Pendleton, Doddridge and Wirt have the fewest number of West Virginia graduates employed.
–Associate degree graduates make less than those with bachelor’s, but not by much: $34,475 to $36,499. However, the income for master’s degree recipients was significantly higher—nearly $51,000. Graduates with doctoral professional practice degrees made more than twice that amount–$106,612.
–There are more women graduates in the workforce, but they make considerably less money. The research found that 53 percent of the public higher education graduates in the workforce are female. However, men earn 30 percent more than women. “This wage gap exists in virtually every area of concentration,” the report found.
–Overall, the 56,562 graduates over the last decade who were working in West Virginia in 2012 earned a total of $2.4 billion in income that year.
One of the more troubling findings (along with the income disparity between men and women) is that worker participation rates for in-state college graduates falls as time passes, suggesting that “graduates move to other states to pursue better economic opportunities.”