Economist: West Virginia must embrace aging demographics to maintain productivity

Yahoo

23-04-2025

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia's economy may have to rely on elder members of society to continue functioning, according to a panel discussion at this year's Focus Forward economic summit.
'Even though West Virginia has shrunk, we have seen a 20% increase in the number of West Virginians over age 65,' John Deskins, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University, said. 'We have extreme human capital shortages in many of our counties. To be successful we can't keep doing the same thing we've been doing. We can't keep following the norm, we have to be creative and adaptive with the workplace environment and our educational system.'
Focus Forward returned for its seventh year to the Marriott at Waterfront Plaza on Tuesday. More than 500 people attended the event. Using the theme 'Longevity,' leaders from politics, education and industry gathered to hear how health and lifespan intersect. The event is organized yearly by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative.
Jen Giovannitti, president and trustee of the Benedum Foundation, said longevity is linked to productivity. Giovannitti said factors such as chronic disease, obesity and an aging population are hurting the state's longevity. While there are things at the individual level that can be done to improve longevity, such as building close relationships with people and serving the community and not eating ultra-processed foods, some of the information the conference presented connects to policy in a fairly direct way, Giovannitti said.
'We know that shift work, and the way workplace policies are designed affect longevity,' Giovannitti said. 'Blue light negatively affects longevity. We know that food we have access to, whether it's ultra processed or not, affects longevity. These are all directly available for elected officials to think about and whatever policies they work on.'
However, the conference stops short of calling for direct action from state and federal lawmakers on certain issues. Giovannetti said the role of the conference was to function as a learning community, and provides attendees with information to think about. The fact more elected officials and policy makers are attending is a great sign, she said.
Deskins said the biggest economic development challenge in West Virginia deals with human capital. The state is near the bottom in terms of labor force participation. He said the state simply doesn't have enough people in the workforce, which, in turn, makes the state less attractive to potential businesses.
'We lag in terms of labor force participation because of several reasons,' Deskins said. 'Things like education, health, drug abuse but certainly the aging of our population is a big, big contributor to this.'
As a result, the state's population, especially in rural area, is getting smaller and older. As such, Deskins said the state can't follow the standard economic development playbook. He said West Virginians need to figure out ways to get people to work longer in a healthy and prosperous ways.
Andrea Garrett, business development, policy and strategic growth lead at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said the state needs to get creative to meet this challenge. One potential solution David Luckey, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corp. and professor of policy analysis at Pardee RAND Graduate School, floated making changes to the tax code that impacts older workers as opposed to younger workers.
'We heard earlier about about the potential for reducing tax on Social Security,' Luckey said. 'I would suggest thinking bigger than that. Perhaps there could be changes in the tax rate for older workers as opposed to younger workers. Again, this interplay of regulations, specifically a tax on pensions is a critical aspect of bringing older workers back into the workforce.'
The panel focused mostly on workers over 65 who wanted to return to work. Garrett cautioned that quality of life was important as well, bringing up there are more seniors who don't want to work than those who do. The panel pointed out finding purpose through work can be beneficial for longevity. Deskins said jobs should be tailored to the individual, to make work fulfilling which is what makes individuals more productive and happy.
'Greater understanding is needed in a couple of different areas,' he said. 'One, how do labor markets function for older workers? Secondly, what kind of companies that employ them, and what can be done to support and strengthen this shift, and specifically West Virginians, who need and want to work.
Deskins eyed two-year degree programs for people in their 50s and 60s that can help older people keep their skills up to date. He said a solution to the shrinkage in human capital in the state is to encourage people to work longer, which is not going to happen unless workers like their work and find it fulfilling. Community colleges will be essential in providing those programs. The education system as a whole will have to be adaptable to serve a much older population.
'We're trying to encourage them to work longer for their own benefit and for the benefit of the broader economy,' Deskins said. 'We're not talking about people who are having to work to pay bills. We're trying to get people to stay in, even though they don't necessarily have to.'