To no one's surprise, West Virginia's economy is not exactly thriving. In fact, according to the Mountain State Business Index compiled by the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research, the state's economy has been shrinking slightly.
"After only registering a handful of negative readings in three years, the MSBI has posted appreciable declines since the beginning of 2015," the bureau reported on the WVUToday website. "The decline over a six-month period stood at 2.1 percent and represents the largest percentage decline during a six-month period since Sept. 2009. Ultimately, this points to the possibility of weakening economic activity over the course of the next quarter or two."
The business index serves as a gauge of West Virginia's expected economic performance over the near term.
The biggest contributor to the decline is what most everyone would expect: "It's no surprise what the biggest driver of the decline is: it's of course coal," said John Deskins, director the WVU bureau. "Coal has suffered so tremendously in our state over the last several years now, and it's been really hurting this year. Overall, coal production is down 13 percent over where it was a year ago."
The decline in the coal industry affects more than miners' jobs.
"If a coal miner loses his job, that's less spending at the movie theater, less spending at the gas station, less spending at the restaurant," he said. "That trickles through the economy to create even more lay-offs."
Among the bright spots is natural gas, although that is tempered, at least temporarily.
"Over the past few years we've had declines in coal, but we've had some increases in natural gas to offset those declines in coal, at least partially," Deskins told WVMetroNews. "But now natural gas is slowing down a little bit. It's not going negative. It's still improving, but it's not growing as rapidly as it had been."
The lesson seems clear. While still working hard to support and encourage traditional industries, particularly bright areas like natural gas, West Virginia needs to work even harder to diversify its economy. The state's own citizens and leaders need to figure out how to grow the state, both with entrepreneurship and job development from within, and importing people and ideas from outside.
However its done, wishing, blaming, or waiting for the economy to grow won't help. Its up to West Virginians themselves to make state growth happen.