Quote:When nearly 1/5th of personal income in West Virginia came from mining earnings, it was easy for the booming mining sector to be the driver of economic growth. However, as mining’s share of the economy fell, so too did the economic performance of the mining counties. Without economic diversity, mining counties saw their fortunes rise and fall with the energy booms and busts.

If mining counties continue to have little economic diversity, then they likely will continue to underperform and be poorly positioned to compete economically with other counties and other states. The absence of an educated workforce hurts future competiveness, creating a lack of entrepreneurship and productivity, and the high levels of income inequality create an unstable foundation for economic growth.