West Virginia is losing population; not much, but we’re still headed in the wrong direction. A Census Bureau report released last week shows the Mountain State’s population dropped by 3,269 from July 2013 to last July. We have approximately 1.85 million people here.
West Virginia was one of just six states losing population in the last year. The others were Connecticut, Illinois, Alaska, New Mexico and Vermont. But we had the biggest drop at nearly two-tenths of one percent.
A stagnant population hurts the state’s economy, according to WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research Director Dr. John Deskins. “A declining population is a challenge for economic growth because it makes businesses less likely to locate in the state,” Deskins says. “A business wants to locate to a place where it will be easy to find the workers it needs.”
Anecdotally, you hear this all the time. West Virginia business leaders express frustration that they cannot find qualified workers.
It’s a chicken or the egg conundrum; businesses want to locate where the population is growing, while people are more likely to move to an area when there’s business growth.
Deskins predicts the state will lose one percent of its population—about 19,000 people—by 2030. However, he adds that the proposed ethane cracker plant near Parkersburg could provide West Virginia with a population shot in the arm. A study by WVU economics professor emeritus Dr. Tom Witt found that there could be as many as 18,000 jobs associated with construction, 325 full-time jobs post-construction and hundreds more jobs created in secondary and tertiary businesses.
Additionally, not all regions in the state are being affected equally by the population decline. For example, the eastern panhandle and north central West Virginia have seen population growth, while southern West Virginia is steadily losing people. The economic and regulatory challenges for the coal industry suggest that, barring a significant new development, that trend will continue.
Some folks who adopt West Virginia as their home like to say, “I wasn’t born here, but I got here as soon as I could.” It’s a charming sentiment that speaks to their affection for the Mountain State.
We just need more people to fall in love with West Virginia.