Working for a living

You can be the first kid on your block to read a copy of the latest edition of The State of Working West Virginia, a publication of the American Friends Service Committee and the WV Center on Budget and Policy.

Come to think of it, you'll probably be the only kid on your block to read it...

Anyhow, the report covers:

*how WV recovered from the Great Recession. (Short answer: unevenly and we never got back many of the best jobs);

*the link between growing GDP (gross domestic product) and productivity and more jobs and higher wages. (Short answer: sadly, there isn't one around here these days);

*the northern gas boom and the southern coal bust. (Short answer: both are problems in different ways);

*how policy decisions can impact working families (Short answer: Medicaid expansion, good; corporate tax cuts that help drive up the cost of higher ed, not so much);

and finally some policy recommendations that might promote shared prosperity.