A BOOMING ECONOMY? - WV Losing 230 More Jobs

(10/17/2006)

At least 30,000 jobs have left West Virginia since "free trade" has moved forward with the globalized economy, more than half of them have been relatively low-paying jobs from minimum wage to $8 an hour. While the government reports low unemployment numbers, declaring "a booming economy," the declarations mean little to most West Virginia working people. Workers have experienced stagnant wages for at least five years, coupled with reduced benefits. Two-hundred-thirty people are now losing their jobs at a New Martinsville chemical plant by next summer, adding to the declining economy in the area. "When you're in a depressed county in a depressed state, you can see what just a little bit, even 200, 250, 300 people, what kind of devastating effects it can have," says Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce President Don Riggenbach. The Bayer Material Science plant once had 1,200 employees, with about 350 jobs left at the site.

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