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Jobs Are Coming To W.Va., But Will The Workers Follow?

Do we have enough people to do the jobs, and are enough people willing to work at all? Eric Douglas kicks off our newest radio series, “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force.”

West Virginia has had several recent economic development announcements in the last few years with large companies moving to the state. Those projects require construction workers and a variety of full-time employees once the work is done.

Couple this with recent federal infrastructure programs that demand workers and offer solid salaries, it raises the question, do we have enough people for the jobs?

In this new radio series, “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force,” WVPB reporters focus on the state’s workforce. To begin, News Director Eric Douglas sat down with Heather Stephens, director of the Regional Research Institute at West Virginia University (WVU), to understand how things stack up in the Mountain State.West Virginia Public Broadcasting is producing a radio series focusing on the West Virginia workforce.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Explain to me the quick and dirty definition of what labor force participation is, and why it’s different from unemployment rates.

Stephens: Labor force participation is the number of people that are in the labor force. And this is people 16 and older. The difference here is that the people in the labor force are the people that are working or are looking for a job. When you talk about the unemployment rate, you’re basically looking at the number of people that are in the labor force that can’t find a job. The numerator of the fraction basically, is people working or looking for a job. So unemployed people, and people working, the denominator, are the sort of big number is the population 16 and older.

When we look at unemployment rates, it is simply looking at the percentage of people who are unemployed that are in the labor force. And so when we have a low unemployment rate, it just means that the people that are trying to work. Many of them have jobs. When we have a low labor force participation, it means that of the people 16 and older, there’s a lot of people that aren’t working or trying to find a job. That’s why we say it’s labor force participation. They’re not working, they’re not in a job. They’re off the grid in terms of our labor force.

Douglas: How does that reflect if somebody’s on disability or something like that?

Stephens: In that case, they would be considered out of the labor force and having a higher level of disability would affect our labor force participation. That is one of the drivers of lower labor force participation in West Virginia, but it does not fully explain why we have the lowest labor force participation.

All states have some percentage of their population that’s disabled, West Virginia does have a slightly higher percentage than some states. But that does not explain the disparity between the labor force participation rate and the national labor force participation.

Douglas: We’re usually about 10 points lower than the national average, something like that.

Stephens: I looked last week, we were almost 55 percent. So we’re actually about 7 percent below the national average. If we look at our population 16 and older, and right now we have about 780,000 people in our labor force. That’s at the roughly 55 percent of our population. And if we went to 62 percent, we would almost have another 100,000 people in the labor force.

Douglas: That’s an awful lot of tax revenue and everything else, if we had those people working.

Stephens: Even if we assume there’s some underlying reasons that we would never get up to 62 percent, and I can provide some other reasons, partially due to the aging of our population. So it’s probably unrealistic. West Virginia is not gonna get to 62 percent. But let’s say we just got half that, right? You’re talking about another 50,000 potential workers.

Douglas: That’s human beings who are already here. We’re talking about human beings who are sitting here in West Virginia, who could potentially be working, and they’re just not.

Stephens: One of the criticisms of the standard labor force participation rate is that it’s people 16 and older. The older part of that population, that part in retirement age, they may just be collecting Social Security or living off of some retirement savings. And so they may not have a reason to want to go back into the labor force. I looked at the demographic numbers for the state of West Virginia, and since 2010, West Virginia has lost about 77,000 people from its population. And at the same time, the share of our population that is over 65 and older, has increased from 16 percent to 20 percent. We have a smaller population, and of that smaller population, more of them are over 65 or older.

So part of our current labor force participation rate, obviously, is being driven by that denominator, that population, more of them are over 65. Now, that doesn’t explain the long-term trends that you mentioned. The other thing I noted was during that same time period, it looks like we actually lost about 100,000 people between ages 18 and 64.

Douglas: In the primary workforce, we lost 100,000 people?

Stephens: Yes, more than 100,000 people. Our population overall is down. And it’s down more in the working age population.

In some recent research that I did, that I published with one of my former graduate students and another faculty member at WVU, we actually found that one driver nationally, of losing working age population, can be when there’s a spike in opioid overdoses. And so it could be, on a population weighted basis, we are still, statewide, at the top, or one of the top places in terms of those opioid overdoses.

Our research shows it could be a tipping point. People in that working age population, maybe there aren’t a lot of opportunities. And then this is sort of like the last straw, “my community is just not where I want to live anymore.” I don’t know if that’s the reason. But that’s one potential reason that we’re seeing that out-migration.

Douglas: The numbers aren’t great enough for overdose deaths themselves, but just people saying, “Alright, I’ve had enough of my community, I’m leaving here for someplace better.”

Stephens: There is some evidence from our research, not specific to West Virginia, but nationally, our research shows that, that can be sort of a tipping point for out-migration of primarily working age people. The other thing that I noted in a meeting a couple weeks ago with some folks at the Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, is that while some measures they were touting was that West Virginia doesn’t have a lot of income inequality. They were ranking states by income inequality. And I said the problem with that is that part of the reason we don’t have high income inequality is that our incomes are highly compressed downward.

So if you even go to the Workforce West Virginia website, and you look at the average annual wage for West Virginia, it is $17,000 below the national average. And that is pretty significant. It relates back to this discussion of labor force participation in economics. In labor economics, we have this theory called your “reservation wage,” which is, I need to make a certain level of wages in order for it to be worth it for me to go to work.

If wages are compressed downward, it might be that part of our persistent labor force participation rate is that there’s enough people that can’t justify taking a job because of the commuting cost, or those who have young children, the cost of of childcare, that it’s not worth it to work and live in. Salaries can prevent some portion of the population from entering the labor force. I am not saying it’s the only reason, but it is one potential reason.

Douglas: Do we have enough people to support some of this economic development? Do we have enough people who can work the tourism jobs? What does it take to get people off the sidelines?

Stephens: One thing is making sure they can make enough money, making sure that there’s access to childcare for those in the working age population. The reason that U.S. labor force participation rates went way up starting around the mid ’70s, is that women entered the labor force at really high rates compared to the past. If you keep women out of the labor force because of lack of access to childcare you’re always going to have some sort of compression of your labor force participation rate. I think it’s important to be thinking about access, and especially that there are some issues with lack of childcare access in the state, and especially in places that make it convenient for you to get to your job and take your kid to childcare. That’s one potential thing that, but again, salaries overall are highly compressed downward.

You mentioned some of the big sectors like education and health care. We’re not paying in the state the same kinds of salaries that other states are paying. If you’re a teacher, for example, you can go to Pennsylvania and make a lot more. You can go to Virginia and make a lot more. So that can be a problem when it comes to recruiting educators. Tourism jobs, historically, everywhere, are not the highest paid jobs and they’re highly seasonal. Before we got started, we were talking a bit about bringing in international workers to help out in the high tourism seasons. You see this a lot in national parks, where the lodges at national parks are almost all staffed by international workers. The seasonal nature of that work, where if I’m someone living in that community, I need a job that’s year-round, not one that pays me for six months a year, because I’m supporting a family and I’m trying to live there full-time.

These are all some of the things that might bring people back into the labor force. More support in terms of childcare and higher wages. Trying to figure out how to balance this seasonal nature. Tourism work isn’t going to solve everything. The aging of our population means that we’re going to have a persistently lower labor force participation rate. Another reason that we may have lower labor force participation is that we have a significantly lower level of higher education graduates in our state compared to the nation.

If you look at the share of the population with a bachelor’s degree or higher, nationally, it’s 33.7 percent. And we have only 21.8 percent of our population with a bachelor’s degree or higher. I may work at a university, but I’m not ever advocating that everyone needs a bachelor’s degree. But we have a very high, high school graduation rate in this state. We graduate a lot of our students. But the thing that I’m not sure we are doing as good of a job at is getting those high school graduates into some sort of post-high school training that makes them more marketable for jobs that exist.

This could be a two-week certificate program that gets them some kind of training in programming, and then they can get hired and get additional training by their employer. But I think we’re stagnating out at that high school graduation. And so our workforce isn’t as trained, that makes them less marketable, it makes it harder for them to find jobs, and probably makes people discouraged and could be contributing to the slower labor force participation.

Douglas: There’s no easy answer to this, is there?

Stephens: I think that we need to chip away at thinking about what can be done. I think that things like improving access to childcare is one really big one that would bring some people back into the labor force. I think identifying training opportunities that would make people who maybe are out of the labor force get the skills they need to be prepared for jobs that do exist. I’ve been talking to some folks in the New River Gorge area who are putting together a working group to bring together various educational institutions, and think about these training programs to get people ready for jobs.

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This story is part of the series, “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force.”

Ascend Remote Worker Program Adds New River Gorge Location

With the addition of the New River Gorge region, the Ascend West Virginia program now has five destinations that are welcoming new remote working residents to the Mountain State.

With the addition of the New River Gorge region, the Ascend West Virginia program now has five destinations that are welcoming new remote working residents to the Mountain State. By offering incentives of cash and free outdoor adventures, the program hopes to offset the state’s population decline.

Ascend West Virginia began with a $25 million gift to West Virginia University’s (WVU) Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative. Teaming up with the state Department of Tourism, Ascend selects applicants (more than 20,000 since its launch), who are willing to move to the state. The people selected get $12,000 in cash and another $8,000 in outdoor activity vouchers.

Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby called Ascend a progressive success.

“We have nearly 300 new West Virginia residents that have come over the last two years,” Ruby said. “They are spread across the state in various host communities. And the retention rate is at about 98 percent, so things are going well.”

Ruby said adding the New River Gorge region to the Ascend community roster offers options.

“They can live anywhere in the New River Gorge region.” she said. “It’s not just Fayetteville, it’s not just Oak Hill. They can basically live anywhere in the area from Summersville down to Beckley and all around. We’re looking for them to put down roots in those communities.”

Ascend executive team member Danny Twilley, a WVU assistant vice president of Economic Community and Asset Development, said the other four Ascend community regions continue to take applicants.

“So if you want a college town, you’ve got Morgantown,” Twilley said. “If you want the kind of access to the major metropolitan area in D.C. and in the growth of the Eastern Panhandle, you’ve got that area. If you want that cool art and food culture with some really unique outdoor assets, you’ve got Greenbrier Valley and Lewisburg. And then Elkins is a western gateway to the Monongahela National Forest.”

“Ascenders,” as they are called, hail from 34 states and two countries. Ruby said they are a diverse lot.

”We’ve got some that are singles, we’ve got some couples, we’ve got some families,” Ruby said. “I think we even have a couple of new babies that have been born into Ascend families since they’ve moved here.”

Ruby said the Ascend remote workers come from a variety of businesses and industries, highlighted by health care, advertising and educational services.

“Just skimming the list, you know, we’ve got folks from Deloitte Consulting, KPMG, Ocean Spray, UnitedHealthcare, Vivid Seats, Walgreens,” she said. “They really are a very broad spectrum. They come from nearly every industry.”

Twilley said a majority of Ascenders have advanced education.

“Whether it’s a four year degree, a master’s or beyond, 25 percent of them have a very direct connection to the state and 75 percent don’t have a family member or have lived here before,” Twilley said. “It’s a relatively broad swath. We’ve had applications from over 80 different countries and all 50 states.”

The goal is to have 1,000 Ascend families come to West Virginia in the next six years. Twilley said one new group target will be military veterans.

“West Virginia produces more military veterans per capita than any other state in the country and we have the least amount to return home, right?” Twilley said. “They learn tremendous skills, they have lived a life of service, they have built a sense of community and what it means to be a military veteran. We had the highest population in 1950. Over the next 71 years, we lost over 200,000 people – about 12 percent. I think we can replenish it back to that era of a population. That’s really a long-term goal that we’re focused on.”

Ruby said what Ascend is selling is the kind of outdoor lifestyle a remote worker can have in West Virginia.

“I firmly believe it is the nation’s premier remote worker program,” she said. “I’m really excited about the results that we’ve seen over the first two years and am really excited about the future.”

Groundbreaking Brings More W.Va. International Business, Jobs

Niterra North America President and CEO Mike Schwab says the new center will call for another 50 to 100 positions.

The former NGK Spark Plugs has operated a facility in Sissonville for the past twenty years. The spark plug and oxygen sensor assembly plant started with 90 full time jobs. They are now up to 500 full time and 70 temporary positions.

Now known as Niterra North America, the Japanese-American company broke ground Tuesday on a 75,000 foot international distribution center on the Sissonville campus. Niterra North America President and CEO Mike Schwab says the new center will call for another 50 to 100 positions.

“This is the creation of an aftermarket distribution center,” Schawb said. “This will go to the retailers serving 140 million people around the eastern half of the USA, and all across Canada. The same products that you pick up at your favorite auto parts store are coming out of this distribution center.”

The new name – Niterra North America, Inc. – became effective on April 1st. It’s a combination of the latin “Nieto” for shine and “Terra’ for planet Earth. Schwab said the company’s re-branded goals are to use technology to resolve social issues while contributing to a sustainable society.

“We’ve been more than just spark plugs for many years now,” Schwab said. “We’ve been in high tech sensors, and are now in other fields. One of our fastest growing areas right now is medical. Our intention is to use our technology that we’ve learned over the years, to help make the world a better place to live and to work.”

Schwab says Niterra continues to diversify, and the company’s West Virginia footprint is primed to grow.

“This campus is very productive for us,” he said. “It’s one of the top locations we have all around the world. I fully expect this to continue to grow and to develop in the years to come.”

In addition to the groundbreaking ceremony, Niterra partnered with One Tree Planted and planted a commemorative tree on the expanded campus, after announcing their donation of 1,000 trees to the Appalachian community.

NGK Spark Plugs will continue manufacturing spark plugs under that brand, while ceramic-related products will be produced under the NTK Technical Ceramics brand. Niterra North America, Inc. maintains its headquarters in Wixom, MI and operates manufacturing, inventory, and distribution facilities in Irvine, CA, Sissonville, WV, and Chicago, IL.

At the groundbreaking, Gov. Jim Justice said West Virginia will continue its aggressive efforts to develop global economic development partnerships.

“This expansion of a Japanese firm in West Virginia is unbelievable,” Justice said. “Can you imagine 500 employees and growing? It is the real deal.”

Landscape Trade Organization Hopes To Bolster Workforce, Provide Training

The West Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association is training hopeful technicians to bolster the industry’s undermanned workforce as part of an initiative with the state’s national guard.

The program, located in Dunbar, trains students in landscaping basics including insect and disease management, pruning and lawn care. Potential workers can receive course certification through the program.

Michael Biafore, chairman of the agency’s workforce development committee, says it’s the first formal training for the career path to happen within the state.

“In West Virginia, the landscape industry, through 2022, grew six percent. And we expect to grow another four percent in the coming years,” Biafore said. “The problem is, that need keeps growing, but there aren’t any employees coming in to answer the call.”

The program was created under the umbrella of the state’s Jobs and Hope program, which helps those recovering from substance use disorder find their future career. Biafore says he’d like to see the program become a consistent pipeline for workers.

“We have turned to people that were maybe disadvantaged for whatever reason, and need a vehicle to come back into society, and earn a living and be productive,” Biafore said.

The program was created in tandem with similar training the association is implementing for students involved in trade school, with a program at Pierpont Community and Technical College last spring semester.

“We’re hoping to do it again this fall, our ultimate goal is to keep building on that and expanding that program,” Biafore said. “So one day, we will get to the level of some of our surrounding states with this curriculum.”

The program’s next training event is scheduled from May 15 to 19. Another program is also tentatively planned for this summer at Camp Dawson in Preston County. Biafore says they’re hoping to organize these training sessions up to four times a year.

Those interested can sign up at the Nursery and Landscape Association’s website.

Industrial Park Set For Construction Near Raleigh County Airport

The 105-acre park is planned as part of an aviation and economic development hub in the southern part of the state. The New River Gorge Development Authority officially began work on the project after accepting a $7.7 million bid from A.L.L. Construction last Saturday.

Site preparations began Monday on an industrial park at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport.

The authority plans to use the park to attract aerospace and cargo firms to the area. It’s also meant to provide jobs for the local labor force – New River Gorge Community and Technical College expects to have its aviation and maintenance technician program open by the end of 2024.

Other recent developments at the airport include federal grant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration and Economic Development Administration, the construction of a training hangar for aviation maintenance students and funding for a new road that would connect the airport to rail transportation.

Overall, the total investment in improvements being made to the airport and nearby facilities totals $8.3 million.

The industrial park is planned to be completed in a year, according to the agency.

Tourism Education Initiative Planned To Support Anticipated Jobs

The Shape Our Future educational program has launched an updated hospitality and tourism curriculum in all 55 counties. It’s meant to help the career path become more viable for students at community and technical colleges.

The West Virginia Department of Tourism is launching an education initiative in anticipation of a boom in tourism jobs across the state.

Other significant parts of the program include a program for high schoolers to receive college credit, grant funding from the Departments of Education and Tourism for students to create tourism infrastructure projects on public lands and a shift in the state’s Discover Your Future program to highlight future careers in tourism at middle schools.

The college program is part of a workforce development initiative called Tourism Works. It was created to support a growing state tourism industry. The state’s Higher Education Policy Commission predicts there will be 21,000 annual tourism openings through 2025.

“We’ve all heard people say there are no jobs in West Virginia, that you’re gonna have to move when you graduate, but that’s not true,” Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby said to a group of students at Nicholas County Career and Technical College.

She announced the program at the college Tuesday alongside Gov. Jim Justice.

Plans for further expansion of the program are scheduled for next year. A tourism marketing specialization will also be launched as part of the curriculum this fall.