West Virginia Economic Revitalization
Economic Enablers: Summary of Findings
Outperform peers
On par with peers
Underperform peers
Enablers:
Dimensions:
Diagnostic:
Cost of Doing
Business
/ Top 15 states for cost of doing business, but energy costs are rising
Business
Climate
Innovation
and Business
Development
Regulatory
Environment
Quality of Life
Starting new
businesses
Growing Existing
Businesses
Attracting Businesses
Transport
Infrastructure
IT
/ 18th on State Business Tax Climate Index, ahead of peers
/ Has taken measures to improve legal climate
/ Ranks last in quality of life
/ Business exits higher than startups, ranking #49 on business birth
rate and #47 on patent creation
/ Fewer small business innovation research awards ($20 per $1M of
GDP), lesser seed/angel funding
/ Limited discretionary funds available to close deals
/ #43 on bridge quality, and #37 on road quality
/ Bottom ten on access to broadband, with internet backbone
missing WV entirely
/ Opportunity to certify more sites for business attraction
Potential opportunity to consider:
/ Rebrand WV's strengths in business climate
/ Establish action plan to combat rising utility costs
/ Ease administration of TPP
/ Convene innovation actors in the State and increase support to
growing startups
/ Enhance small business support resources
/ Change mix of incentive types
/ Expand development office investment attraction capabilities
/ Create financing mechanisms to fund capital projects
/ Launch site certification program
/ Expand broadband coverage
Human
Capital
Sites
Foster Talent Pipeline
Improve Health and
Skills of Workforce
Attract Talend from
outside WV
/ Fewer STEM and college grads than all peers (14% and 20%
respectively)
/ Net population loss of ~5K/year
/ Declining labor force participation (ranks worse in women and
disabled people participation vs. peers)
/ Create concerted statewide human capital effort
/ Expand STEM talent pool
/ Encourage returning/relocating to West Virginia
/ Combat the opioid crisis
/ Train workforce in jobs that are high in demandView entire presentation