Employment & Wages Update

This is an update concerning the WV wages and employment with the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Historical data is only available up to the second quarter of 2014, which ended in June 2014. While the average U.S. state posted a gain of 1.56% in employment from June 2013 to June 2014, WV had negative employment growth of -0.3%. It was one of three states/territories to lose jobs over that period. The other two areas to have negative job growth were the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. This is a continuation of the weak employment recovery from the financial crisis of 2008. But it is disappointing that WV could not post even moderate positive employment growth over that 12-month time span, especially given the ability of every contiguous state to do just that.
Looking at the breakdown of employment growth and decline among WV counties shows great inequality. Doddridge County had job growth of +19% from June 2013 to 2014 to lead the state, while Mingo County had negative employment growth of -14.9% at the bottom of the list. Thirty-six of the fifty-five counties had flat or negative employment growth for this period. Counties with stagnant or negative employment included some of the counties with relatively high average weekly wages. Mingo County had the 3rd highest average weekly wage at $936, but had the worst job losses; Putnam County had the 5th highest weekly wage ($907), however it gained 0% employment. Kanawha County had -0.1% job growth with the 12th highest weekly wages of $830.
Unsurprisingly, most of the employment decline and growth is tied to natural resources. Coal mine closures in Mingo County are probably responsible for the majority of job losses. Legislation proposed to give tax credits to employers who locate on reclaimed mine properties is unlikely to have much of an effect. Tax credits may sound appealing, but if employers have no other reason to locate in a particular area (access to markets, natural resources, skilled workforce) they will not obey some politician's whim. On the other side of the spectrum, natural gas projects in the northern counties are adding to employment growth. This is powered by Marcellus Shale drilling and its support services, pipeline transmission, and electricity generators that are flooding those counties. That growth is not without negative side-effects, as some residents cope with increased truck traffic on local roads, consumption of large volumes of water from local sources, and load noises from drilling activity. The potential for explosions from highly pressurized gas, due to inattentive operators, and the constant worry of water contamination from the public will also continue to hamper the natural gas industry.
The search for new industries and employment diversification continues in WV. Natural resource exploitation, education, health care, and government work have offered the extent of employment opportunities in recent state history. That has landed WV with the 41st highest average weekly wage ($792) of 50 states. And it failed to contribute net job growth in the most recent period. More than tax breaks will be required to alter the state's employment picture. It will take a wide-scale change in workforce skills that attract existing companies and a thriving small business sector. That may not be possible to achieve with any set of policy tools.

Addendum: To be fair, employment has mostly recovered in WV since the 2008 recession. Seasonally controlled net employment is down from a 10-year peak of 715,677 in 2008 to 711,266 in June of 2014. The recovery of jobs seems to have leveled off since 2012 with declining employment over the last few quarters. The picture is not too bleak if we consider that from 2004 to 2014 employment in WV has increased from 694,322 workers to 711,266 workers - a gain of 16,944 net jobs.

Employment in WV

Many high school and college students struggle to understand the needs of the labor market as they are finishing their school years. This leads to a disconnect between employers and the work force that can result in reduced business activity and higher unemployment. Most readers will recall the lack of vision they had as high school students trying to pick a career path (the author certainly struggled). This problem needs to be tackled jointly by parents, schools, and businesses. Schools can go a long way to communicating what jobs will be available when students graduate. Education for its own sake is admirable, but preparing students for a work life is equally important. Businesses can reach out to schools and tell them what skills and workers are currently needed. They can communicate this with data and stories.

Having identified the problem, let us see what the current facts and figures say about employment opportunities in West Virginia. Presented below is a snapshot in time of the March 2014 employment picture in the state (BLS.gov data). For all private sector employment categories, Trade, Transportation, and Utilities leads the way by employing 23% of the WV workforce. 

Regardless of what you may have heard during election season, Natural Resources, and Mining is not a huge share of the state's employment at 5.7% of total private employment. Similarly, the Construction category accounts for only 5.5% of private state jobs. Manufacturing is a low source of employment at 8.6% although it is slightly higher than the previous two categories. Those three categories account for the almost 20% of employment that is associated with Goods Producing. The rest of private state employment, 80%, is attributed to Service Providing jobs. Education & Health Services are close behind Trade, Transportation, and Utilities with nearly 22% of employment. Together those two categories account for about 45% of the state's jobs. If you add Professional & Business Services (11.7%) and Leisure & Hospitality (13.1%), that group of four service providing categories accounts for 70% of all private work in WV.

That is the broad picture. If you are a student or unemployed West Virginian, you should probably look for work in one of those four categories. Education & Health Services probably consists of: nurses, doctors, health care administrators, private teachers. But the BLS data can be very specific within these categories. For instance, it might be beneficial to know that there were 7,534 jobs in home health care services for March 2014. Getting more detailed with the job numbers enables job seekers to get a feel for specific opportunities. The higher the employment, the more likely someone would be to find work in that category. Once a category of work is defined, a job search engine is a good place to start for finding specific job openings. Even more effective than internet searching is networking among friends and family. A large portion of workers learn of opportunities through social networks instead of official job listings. For students, this simple exercise can guide them in choosing courses and learning about industries while they are still in school.

The graph above looks at private employment only. Between federal, state, and local governemnt employment there are another 47,935 workers. These workers are considered separately because their wages come from tax revenue on private businesses. However, it may be beneficial for job seekers to know that nearly 48,000 government jobs currently exist and that the average annual wage for a government employee is above that of a service provider (broadly speaking). As you can see below, federal government positions pay considerably more than state and local jobs.

One thing that is not being considered with this "snapshot" is the trend of employment among categories. Looking at whether employment has moved up or down in each category over the past 5-10 years would allow us to make more definitive statements about where work is likely to be found. 

Taxpayer Return on Investment

My attention was turned onto a report that ranks states according to the returns they provide to taxpayers. Economist Scott Sumner at The Money Illusion makes the observation that states with no, or low, income tax rates tend to rank better with regard to their public services. He checked for a political bias in the ranking organization, but found that Republican and Democrat leaning states were evenly mixed throughout the rankings. The organization providing the rankings is called Wallethub. Their mission statement says they provide financial information for consumers and small businesses. The report was produced by professors of political science, economics, and public policy at various universities across the country.
So what does the report say about West Virginia? The state ranked 46th of 51 (D.C. was included) in return on taxpayer money. The good news is that the tax rate rank is not oppressive. West Virginia was ranked 18th, top 35%, in terms of how much taxes its citizens pay annually. Wallethub estimated that the average West Virginian pays $6,598 annually in taxes, which is 5% below the national average. The bad news is that our overall government services rank 47th, according to this organization.
There are a few graphics that break down the metrics by government service. West Virginia is featured in two of them.

That is interesting given the chemical spill that tainted Charleston's water supply in January 2014, but before that West Virginia had been nationally ranked with the best water quality. It is assumed they ignored the recent spill and looked at the larger picture of the state's past and future water quality when conducting the report. More troubling is that WV was ranked last in terms of quality hospital systems. The explanation for this is not readily available. One could reason that the lack of health care options in rural areas across the state lead researchers to rank the state last. Their sub-metrics in determining health care provision were: the number of state and local hospitals per 100,000 residents; a public hospital system rank; the average life expectancy; the infant mortality rate; out-of-pocket medical costs; and the average health insurance premium. The average life expectancy could be more due to lifestyle choices, but the other areas are somewhat within the state's purview. And it can be noted that the quantity of hospitals does not always mark their quality. Still, a low health rating certainly made WV look like a bad return on taxes invested.
However, there is a bigger point to be drawn from this report. Could West Virginia improve its quality of public services by increasing or reducing the tax rate? Given that the state already collects below the national average in taxes, one might say that raising the tax rate to the national average or beyond could give the government more resources with which to improve health services, reduce crime, or build infrastructure. This makes good sense, but the state by state picture muddies this clear reasoning a bit.

Look at how convoluted this graph appears. Putting the same data into Microsoft Excel shows that there is a small negative correlation (-0.22) between lower tax rates and higher government services. But it is far from clear that higher taxes necessarily provide a state with better government services.

West Virginia would hope to move downward on the above graph. That would indicate better public services. The trend line would indicate that increasing taxes marginally would help that. However, the chart shows plenty of states with low taxes and high government service rates. Look at the cluster of five states in the lower left hand corner that rank in the top ten in low tax rates and in the top twenty in government services. Those states are: Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Washington, and Colorado. Of those states, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming have no income taxes. On the other end of the spectrum, the state with the highest tax rate rank, New York, has the 25th best public services. So New York has high tax rates and is in the middle in terms of services. California has the second highest tax rate rank and is 38th in public provisions.
Complicating the relationship further are states with high tax rates and highly rated government services. Iowa, Nebraska, and Vermont all rank in the top ten highest tax rates and provide top ten quality public services. All three states have a progressive income tax that is steeper than West Virginia's.
So what is the lesson from all this data? Should West Virginia lower or increase tax rates? And if so, which ones should it lower or raise? The main moral seems to be that rates are not as important as quality decision making. The efficiency with which a state government spends money is more important than the amount collected. Finding cost effective ways to improve infrastructure, schools, air and water quality, and health services is the best route. That is easier said than done though. Building bridges or hospitals takes money. Increasing safety requires better training or more officers or both. And improving education starts with better teachers and teacher training. It requires as much dedication from the populace to provide these services as it does the state to facilitate them. Teachers and police officers taking pride in their work and looking for innovative ways to improve their community are just as important as the politicians hoping to effectively parse through the tax code.

More on Minimum Wage

Many states have taken time during their recent legislative sessions to pass higher minimum wage laws. Whether this is an attempt to keep pace with inflation (which is at historic lows), or battle income inequality is up for debate. I wrote two months ago about the state of inequality. Here are two graphs depicting: 1) the upward shift of the population among income brackets (less people in the lowest income bracket, more people in $50k-$200k range) and, 2) the higher concentration of wealth among higher income brackets (less wealth among lowest income bracket; $100k-$200k range grows; $1 million+ bracket grows).

As I mentioned at the time, these trends show a positive movement of the population up the income ladder with the consequence that more of the total state income is held by people making $75,000 or more. But are those making much less, like the minimum wage, cut out of this growth in prosperity?
The unemployment rate has dropped almost linearly from a peak of 17.4% in 1983, with reversals of trend coming after each recession. Widely held economic theory says that raising the minimum wage results in higher unemployment. But that can be difficult/impossible to tell when unemployment rates are much more heavily influenced by macroeconomic conditions (changes in preferences, globalization, technological innovation, etc.). Shifts in the nature of the labor force away from mining and manufacturing toward health care, retail, law, finance, and other technical jobs requiring computer skills ultimately produced new, different jobs that displaced some workers from the labor force while providing new sectors for other workers. Upticks in the unemployment rate seem to follow the path of recessions (crash of 1987, tech bubble, Great Recession of 2008).

By adjusting the state minimum wage by the inflation rate (taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI rate - table 24), we can see a fairly flat rate.

The current minimum wage of $7.25 is keeping pace with inflation though it is down slightly from a record peak of almost $8.00. Thus, increases to the nominal minimum wage have kept the real minimum wage steady, and increased it somewhat, since 1980. During this time, the unemployment rate of WV has dropped, subject to macroeconomic conditions in the broader U.S. economy. At the same time, the share of taxable income in WV has experienced a shift from earners making less than $50,000 to workers making $75,000 or more. The lowest taxable income bracket of below $30,000 in 1997 and below $25,000 in 2011 (the IRS changed the brackets for some reason) shows a movement of workers out of that bracket. A total of 46% of returns were filed for those making under $30,000 in 1997, while 25% of returns were filed for those making under $25,000 in 2011.
From this information it can be reasoned that workers making under $25,000, around the minimum wage, are not making less in inflation adjusted terms. Not only that, but more and more workers are not in this category. And lastly, that is why the share of total income of the bottom income brackets has dropped; not because they are earning less, but because of the upward mobility of higher earners.
In conclusion, there is an indeterminable relationship between unemployment and minimum wage. It may increase unemployment at the bottom of the income spectrum, but there is not clear data showing this and no way of inferring causality. The minimum wage has stayed constant, in real terms, as unemployment has dropped in WV over the years. It is currently above the 1980-2013 average of $6.55 in 2013 dollars. Increasing it now may slightly increase the share of income going to the bottom tax bracket, but it won't be considerable due to the broader shift of workers up the income brackets and their increasing wages.
This is an issue of importance being hotly debated at the global level. The release of Thomas Piketty's book: Capital in the Twenty-First Century has created a flurry of discussion over inequality and whether it is due to grow indefinitely in the future. Piketty's main thesis is that the growth rate on capital has been higher than the growth rate of labor over the broad course of human history. This makes the people owning capital assets (stocks, buildings, land, machines) wealthier than the people providing goods and services. He uses this point to advocate for a global redistribution of income. While the jury is out on his claim about growth rates, the story for a large amount of people over their lifetimes has been a rising standard of living as they jump up the income scale. The Great Recession may have called this mobility into question, but the numbers have yet to show that it has stopped. There is still wealth to be made for those that can and will work for it.

Race Track Subsidies

The WV House recently passed a bill to reduce subsidies to thoroughbred and dog race tracks. It estimates this would save the state $35 million and help reduce a budget deficit. Some delegates objected because they represent districts with dog breeders or race tracks. Do they have a point, or are subsidies to private enterprises like these an unnecessary expense to the state?

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University calls state "racino" legislation that allocates a percentage of gaming revenue to racing and breeding businesses a "triply stupid policy". Why such a harsh endorsement? The first trip up, in his opinion, is that there should not be a separate legal entity for a casino with racetracks, such as Mardi Gras Resort and Casino in Cross Lanes, WV. Secondly, he objects to the nature of such legislation as a response to competition between state lotteries and racinos. State lotteries like to bill themselves as great benefactors to local education. But the effects of all their spending on education is ambiguous while the revenue they generate is often extracted from the lower income residents of a state. And lastly, Cowen finds it bizarre that a private, for-profit enterprise should need state funding to survive. In his words, "how about spending the money on poor people, rather than on sectors which extract money from a disproportionately lower income clientele?"

Delegates arguing against this legislation are doing so to represent their breeders and race track workers. That is all well and good. But what is the cost-benefit of defending these subsidies? It seems fairly intuitive that if a company cannot operate without government subsidies perhaps it should not be in business. And if race tracks are losing out to competition from state lotteries, why not abolish the state lottery? Again, state lotteries extract revenue from lower income residents, on average, and frame their operations as benevolent by funding things like education. These lotteries could be replaced by so called "no-lose" lotteries run by local credit unions. Some states, like Michigan, already allow these "no-lose" lotteries where savings accounts are opened by players and the winners receive extra cash in lieu of each depositor gaining interest in their account. Britain already runs a form of this that they call "premium bonds". That program has been around since 1956.

So while we are reviewing race track subsidies, maybe it's time to throw in some lottery reform as well. It's food for thought. 

Income Inequality in WV

A recent news blip on WV Public Broadcasting relays a report that income inequality in West Virginia has grown over the last three decades. Specifically, it focuses on the difference between the top 1% of earners in the state and the rest of the state's earners. It has become popular since the Occupy Wall Street movement to discuss the 1% of top earners and the rest of the public. But what does the broader breakdown of different income brackets look like? How has it changed over time? And what does this mean from a public policy outlook?

The article sights a research paper released from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). That is a rather bland name that most people will gloss over. The EPI states on its website that it "conducts original research according to rigorous standards of objectivity and, as a result, is a reliable source of information and analysis." But on the same page it mentions this: "EPI proposes policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low-and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how they affect those workers." The organization states it is releasing objective economic analysis, but then states it has a mission of promoting certain public policies. Having a policy agenda implies having a bias; this makes an organization less than completely objective. Also, note this from their website, "In 2010 through 2012, a majority of our funding (about 60%) was in the form of foundation grants, while another 26% came from labor unions." So this organization will be inherently biased towards policies advocated by the foundations funding it as well as labor unions.

Still, its claim that income inequality is growing in West Virginia deserves to be inspected. The statistic stated in the article is that the top 1% of incomes in West Virginia are, on average, 20 times greater than the average income of everyone else. This alone is not shocking. The smaller the percentile of highest earners, the bigger the multiple. So average incomes from the wealthiest 1% will always be higher than average incomes from the wealthiest 2%. For example, in 2011 the top 0.1% of earners in WV had an average income 67 times that of the average income of all other WV earners. That's basic mathematics.

Another statistic in the article says that WV is one of the states where the top 1% of earners took between 50% and 84% of the income growth from 1979 to 2007. This statistic does seem to imply that the top 1% of earners are capturing all the economic growth in the state. But there are problems with making this basic interpretation. One is that the people who were in lower income brackets in 1979 were not the same people in those same income brackets in 2007. Someone earning $30,000 in 1979 could reasonably be earning $70,000 in 2007. Another person earning $250,000 in 1979 might be earning over $1 million by 2007. Other people may have moved out of the state or passed away since 1979. This is an important distinction. People outside the 1% can move into or out of that bracket over time. An income bracket is not the same people gaining and losing a share of economic growth over time.

Reviewing real data from the IRS is helpful to make these points more salient. Consider the period 1997 to 2011. There were about 61,000 fewer taxable income forms reported in 2011 than in 1997; this signifies outward migration from WV. But more important for discussions of income inequality are the movements between income brackets. In 1997 80% of the tax forms were for individuals earning $50,000 or less, but by 2011 that number dropped to 56%. Meanwhile, the share of individuals in each income bracket above $50,000 increased from 1997 to 2011. For example, in 2011 41% of earners took home between $50,000 and $200,000. Back in 1997 only 19% of workers were in that income bracket. Therefore, the recent evidence suggests that there is income mobility by WV income earners over time. If this is not the case, then lower income workers left the WV labor force and higher income workers entered it.

Having discovered that people are not stationary in income groups over time, one can move on to seeing how income has changed within the groups. Those West Virginians earning above $1 million in 1997 had an average taxable income of $1.93 million. Individuals in that bracket in 2011 earned $2.64 million on average. That is an increase of about 37%. Meanwhile, individuals earning below $50,000 moved from having an average taxable income of $18,000 in 1997 to $13,500 in 2011. This is a decrease of around 25%. And indeed there is a decrease of average incomes in each bracket except for those over $1 million. Other than the under $50,000 income bracket, those decreases were at or below 8%. That still seems like a bad thing.

Does it mean that income inequality is a rampant problem in the state? Recall that the people earning less than $50,000 in 2011 were not the same people earning less than $50,000 in 1997. Therefore, there are a host of reasons why the average income in this bracket might be lower. We know there are fewer people in this bracket over time. Maybe the type of workers in this bracket changed. The type of worker may have changed from employees working at a plant earning $45,000 a year to service workers earning closer to $25,000 per year. A shift in the nature of the workforce could produce such a change. Maybe there were younger workers in the 2011 $50k group who could not demand wages close to $50,000 whereas those in the 1997 group may have been tenured employees. These are two examples of why averages within income groups change over time. And at least the share of income in groups from $75,000 to $1 million increased over that period.

Hence, while we do see higher income among the highest earners in the state, this does not necessarily mean workers in the lower income brackets are worse off than they were two to three decades ago. For one thing, they are not the same people. A Carbide employee from 1980 is not the same person as a recent high school graduate working retail at the Town Center Mall. The high school graduate may not have a family and wouldn't mind earning $10,000 less if it meant having a smart phone, internet access, and a television.

The public broadcasting article goes on to state that this report was released while the WV senate is considering a minimum wage bill. In doing so it implies that the minimum wage has a direct connection to income inequality. But this is far from straightforward. The academic and public policy community is deeply divided over whether minimum wage reduces income inequality or not. It may seem intuitive that if you make a company pay its lowest income workers more, people in the bottom income bracket will earn more. However, employers can simply choose to not hire as many minimum wage workers, or they can fire those they currently employ. Changing what you require a company to pay a worker does not change the productive capacity of that person. In this way economists often predict that increases in the minimum wage will increase unemployment. A minimum wage law may raise the average income in the under $50k bracket, but that would be accomplished by pricing the lowest earners out of the labor market. An employer will simply avoid hiring a worker who does not produce above the level of income required by the government.

Income inequality in a society can be problematic. It can cause social strife and depressed workers and it implies stagnation in living standards. Those are serious problems. That makes understanding the statistics behind inequality very important. Fortunately for West Virginia, the picture is not as bleak as the study released from the EPI would lead you to believe. Unfortunately, the causal link between minimum wage policies and inequality is hazy at best. There is no simple fix to making relatively lower income earners in a society more productive and more valuable to employers. 

Oil and Gas Reserve Fund

*Disclosure: I work for a natural gas company.*

The Senate recently passed a bill for what it calls a Future Fund to set aside tax revenue from oil and gas companies. Here are the particulars: the state will maintain $175 million in oil and gas taxes that it can spend. Twenty-five percent of all the oil and gas revenue after that will be placed in a reserve fund. This fund will earn interest for six years before it can be spent by the government. The main issue is whether this is a prudent, fiscally responsible policy to ensure future financial health, or if using the tax revenue immediately would produce more value during tough economic times.

There is a strong case for the implementation of the Future Fund. It rests on an idea known as the resource curse that has plagued West Virginia in the past, but has had economic impacts worldwide. The basic idea is that countries (and states) with large stores of natural resources often end up with lower incomes, employment, and standards of living than surrounding countries. One glaring example is Venezuela, where $100 billion per year in oil revenue has yet to provide a better life for most of its citizens. Likewise, the phenomenon is present in Africa and the Middle East where autocratic governments hoard the wealth from oil revenue for themselves and at the expense of their populace. West Virginia experienced a form of this with the coal boom in the mid-20th century. This rush temporarily produced employment and tax revenue, but after the easily removed coal had been extracted and technology reduced the need for human labor, many coal towns were deserted. To be fair, the coal industry has continued to provide tax revenues to the state to this day. However, had the funds from this resource extraction been saved and invested in a reserve fund, a smoother transition to jobs in different industries may have been available to past generations.

Norway provides a good example of effectively using a resource reserve fund. That country found large oil reserves off its coast in the 1970s. Instead of allowing companies to extract the oil as quickly as possible, the government handed out a few licenses every year. Then, Norway decided to not spend the new oil revenue immediately on social programs and infrastructure. Instead their government put the money into a pension fund. The Norwegians restricted their government from spending anything other than the interest earned on that pension fund. Today the fund contains about $550 billion. Norway's social programs are envied by countries across the globe due, at least in part, to its oil revenues.

The argument against saving funds from oil and gas revenue rests mainly on urgency. Citizens concerned about high unemployment, high Medicaid costs, and failing infrastructure would rather see new tax revenue spent immediately. While this argument carries some weight, the historical evidence from state and national governments does not support it. There are few examples of governments rapidly exploiting resources then benefiting from years of economic growth due to tax revenues. Instead, future generations could benefit from annual state budgets backed up by a reserve fund. The level and timing of what should be saved or spent can be debated, but the existence of the reserve fund itself has solid economic evidence in its favor.