CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Patrick Morrisey says West Virginia could become the country’s leading energy and economic driver if our state’s resources and workers are pulled together in the right direction.
Morrisey came on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ Thursday following his first state of the state address he delivered to legislatures Wednesday night at the capitol. Energy, technology, education and economic development goals were some of the reoccurring themes Morrisey touched on throughout his address.
On Talkline Thursday, the question was asked, how can the state leverage coal, natural gas, and other resources naturally available here to their fullest potential in a 21st century economy.
Morrisey answered that it’s all about educating the next generation.
Patrick Morrisey
“I think the best way we have to do this is we have to take advantage of the resources we have and number one, focus on education,” Morrisey said. “A lot of time last night I spent talking about votech programs, we need more plumbers, we need more engineers, we need more electricians, we need more sheet medal workers.”
Morrisey said the state needs to take advantage of any partnerships it sets up with outside sources that are able to bring more jobs and growth to the economy.
In his address, he said he talked about West Virginia being a factory for training in multiple industries, because, right now, they need more people in the workforce as the state currently has the lowest workforce participation rate in the country at 54.2%.
Morrisey said his administration will also be looking for ways to facilitate the speed major economic endeavors happen.
“You could actually be one of the fastest states in the country for energy, for other construction projects, for transportation projects, that’s attractive to people, and we want to set up the rules so people start to look around and say, ‘hey, look, West Virginia is better than Pennsylvania, than Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia, and that’s what brings more businesses in,” he said.
Morrisey announced a partnership with West Virginia University, Marshall, and Shepherd universities and Blue Ridge Community and Technical College for the West Virginia POWER Tech Center.
Morrisey said at this facility, all of the higher education institutions would collaborate to boost technology, energy, and innovation sectors. He said this will address the high-level jobs that are becoming available in advanced manufacturing.
However, Morrisey also said that what he wants to get across is that future generations do not need a four-year degree in order to be successful, and he only wants to continue to build those opportunities in the state.
Morrisey said there are so many good-paying jobs within the vocational side as well. He said they need to focus their aim in several directions for workforce growth.
“I think the key is to build out the workforce and if you do that, I think it will not only be good for every West Virginian looking for a job, it’s going to be very attractive to grow our population as well,” he said.
Morrisey said the major question becomes, though, how do we start building the workforce now, because, there are a lot of employers who need workers right now.
Currently, there are 44,000 people on unemployment in the state. He said his administration is doing a deep dive into that number to really analyze who’s not working right now who could be.
Morrisey said he understands that some of these workforce participation problems currently stems from having an older population who are retired, as well as the highest disability rate.
But, he went on to say that he thinks it’s crucial they look at every aspect of workforce participation and get some of that 44,000 back into the workforce, even if it means providing jobs that may be less conventional.
“What if there are opportunities for those who are disabled as well, some of the jobs in the new economy might not require a lot of the back-breaking physical work, maybe there are opportunities from a data perspective from a technology perspective to bring some of those people back to work, we’re going to look at things like that,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey said he also plans to focus on bringing in more workers from other states to make a living here.
He said again, all of this potential improvement and growth goes back to education.
“Even if you do everything else wrong as a state, if your citizens are very well-educated, the attainment rates are going to go through the roof, and people can be self-sufficient, so that to me is very, very high on the list.”
WV Legislature Photo by Perry Bennett