West Virginians believe the state’s economy is getting worse, according to the latest MetroNews West Virginia Poll.
That’s despite expressions of optimism from West Virginia’s public officials, and some economic indicators that aren’t too shabby: an unemployment rate of just about 3.4 percent and a gross domestic product that’s been steadily rising the past couple of years.
Although West Virginia’s population continues to decline, that’s mostly a demographic trend of deaths outpacing births. Net migration, meaning the number of people moving to the state, has been up.
State officials have been on a run of economic development announcements, especially manufacturers embracing clean energy practices, aiming for zero emissions or aspiring to revolutionary technology to store energy and even out fluctuations in the energy supply.
Some economic indicators remain dark clouds, though. West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate — the number of all employed and unemployed workers divided against the state’s population — remains just 54.7 percent, near the bottom of state rankings.
The latest West Virginia Poll shows that 44 percent of respondents believe the state’s economy is getting worse.
That’s a higher number than the 30 percent who said West Virginia’s economy was getting worse when the question was asked in 2019.
About 37 percent of respondents described the state’s economy as about the same. That number was 49 percent in 2019.
Just 19 percent say the economy is getting better. That number was a tad higher, 21 percent, in 2019.
“You can see confidence in the West Virginia economy is down,” said pollster Rex Repass, president of Research America, which produces the West Virginia Poll.
“And why is that? It’s because of what’s happening nationally. It’s interest rates. It’s inflation. You hear it constantly and we feel it every time we go to Kroger or we fill up our car or whatever. So attitudes or perceptions about the economy are down a little bit.
“That has little to do with things taking place in the state and a lot to do with national trends and the economy that we’re all suffering with.”
Many national economic indicators have been improving.
The national unemployment rate is about 3.8 percent. United States gross domestic product has continued to climb.
The inflation rate has cooled — about 3 percent this year compared to almost 9 percent last year. The consumer price index — the change over time for prices paid for a variety of consumer goods and services — has also generally been under control in recent months.
But pessimism remains about the economy.
“When people think about the economy, they think about their pocketbook, their billfold, their buying of groceries, their purchasing of gas, their going on vacation — things that affect them every day, sort of a micro experience,” Repass said.
“And if you hear about job creation in West Virginia, you hear the state is moving forward and a lot of the good things happening with the economy, that’s great but then you go to the grocery store the next day and realize you were spending, whatever — $150 to $200 a week, or less — and now you’re spending quite a bit more than that.”
So the individual’s perception of how far the dollar stretches is still key.
“It’s what is happening to me when I go buy goods and services,” Repass said.
Gov. Jim Justice, who often points toward economic momentum in West Virginia, made that pitch again during the annual business summit hosted last week by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
“You’re making the good stuff happen,” Justice said. “And by doing that, more and more good and more and more opportunity come to all of us every day,” Justice told the business crowd.
West Virginia Poll respondents had a range of priorities to improve the West Virginia economy.
The most, 52 percent, cited reducing drug abuse problems in the state.
Forty-five percent emphasized incentives for companies to move to the state and hire in-state workers.
Thirty-eight percent want to improve the quality of public education in West Virginia.
“People are thinking about the drug problem. They’re thinking about bringing more business into the state and how to improve education in the state,” Repass told the crowd at the business summit.
More: 32 percent want to improve the overall health of adults in the state, while 30 percent want to increase the salaries of public school teachers; 23 percent want to improve broadband internet access; 20 percent want to increase the number of adults working in the state.
Three possibilities were tied at 13 percent for the least support among economic options: creating incentives for people to move to the state; lowering corporate taxes on businesses, and relaxing drug screening requirements for employment.
Those policy priorities are generally in line with recommendations in the annual West Virginia Economic Outlook produced by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University.
“Economic development strategies should focus on ways to improve health outcomes, lower drug abuse, and advance educational and vocational training opportunities in the state to make West Virginia’s workforce more attractive to potential businesses,” according to the most recent outlook.