WV'S ECONOMY WILL CONTINUE TO LAG

(11/17/2006)

A WVU study released this week suggests the state's economy is going to slow down and lag behind the rest of the country over the next five years. That's bad news for a state with a number of counties listed as the most economically deprived in the USA, with several thousands of lower-paying production jobs, including higher-paying steel and chemical, having already been shifted abroad. The study says tough times in coal mining and construction will hurt the economy the most. The study also says construction of electric power plants that scrub more sulfur off of coal is going to reduce coal production over the next five years, particularly in southern West Virginia. Their will be higher mortgage interest rates and a surplus of houses on the market. In a state which has among the smallest number of college graduates, the study expects the income gap between West Virginia and the nation to grow because of the difficulty in creating high-paying service jobs to replace lost mining and construction work.

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