The Jobs Are There but America Must Now Create the

Little more than half of all adults in West Virginia work or are seeking employment. It has the lowest labour force participation rate of any US state. Yet employers in the growing sectors of advanced manufacturing and clean energy described their struggles to fill available positions. “We have so many vacancies,” said the human resources director at one solar installation company.

The problem is not just the death of coal but the lack of training for jobs in other sectors. Local news reports say that at least a dozen major companies, from fuel-cell manufacturing to industrial solar, have announced their entry into the state over the past few years. State leaders claim projects could provide more than 10,000 local jobs if enough residents had the skills to access them.