WHY WE'RE HERE

Vision Shared exists to accelerate progress in West Virginia. Those of us who live here know this state is brimming with potential, but our economic performance is uneven at best. For West Virginia’s economy to compete regionally, nationally and globally, positive changes need to happen faster – that’s where Vision Shared can play a role, not just in working to achieve progress but also to track the state’s performance.

Each year, Vision Shared produces a Performance Measures Report that assesses West Virginia’s progress in achieving goals originally set when Vision Shared was created in 2001. The report also provides a reliable snapshot at how the state is competing economically with the region and nation.

Vision Shared already has seen success in its ability to make a positive impact on some indicators of West Virginia’s economic competitiveness. Workers’ compensation rates, for example, used to be a major area of concern for the Mountain State. Vision Shared played a role in helping to bring about reforms to the system, and those changes followed by market privatization have brought a significant shift that catapulted West Virginia into a much more competitive position.

Not all economic indicators have seen such improvement, however, and Vision Shared volunteers will continue to collaborate and work to enhance West Virginia’s economic growth.

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WEST VIRGINIA STATS

 

West Virginia continues to struggle when it comes to some basic indicators of our economic strength:

  • Per Capita Personal Income: W.Va. $29,293 (2007); U.S.
  • Poverty Rate: W.Va. 14.8% (2007); U.S. 12.5%
  • Percentage Change in Real Gross State Product: W.Va. 0.1% (2007); U.S. 1.6%
  • Percentage of Grade 8 Public School Students at or above Proficient Level in Mathematics: W.Va. 19% (2007); U.S. 31%
  • Patents issued per million workers: W.Va. 153 (2007); U.S. 680.9
  • Percentage of Persons 25 Years and older with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher: W.Va. 16.9 % (2007); U.S. 27%
  • Adult Obesity Prevalence: W.Va. 30.3% (2007); U.S. 25.6%
  • Industry-Financed Share of Academic R&D Expenditures: W.Va. 2.8% (2006); U.S. 5.08%

Source: Vision Shared Performance Measures Report (2008)

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Over the next few years, the Vision Shared Board of Directors will help volunteers focus on achieving gains on the following economic indicators, though we will continue to track and report on all indicators in our annual Performance Measures Report (it is important to understand that while Vision Shared tracks more than 40 economic indicators, our strategic focus is on a select number at a time):

  • Percentage of Grade 4 Public School Students at or Above Proficient Level in Reading
  • Percentage of Grade 8 Public School Students at or Above Proficient Level in Mathematics
  • Percent of Persons Age 25 Years-plus with Associate Degree
  • Registered Apprenticeship Training Completions per 1,000 Workers
  • Patents Issued Per Million Workers
  • Federal Obligations R&D Obligations as Percent of GSP
  • Academic R&D Expenditures as Share of GSP
  • Academic Patents Granted per $1 million of R&D Expenditures
  • Venture Capital Investment per Worker
  • Total State Business Tax Collections as % of GSP
  • State and Local Government Taxes Paid as % of Total Personal Income
  • Workers Compensation Index Rates
  • Health Insurance Coverage — Persons Under 65 with Employer Coverage
  • Health Insurance Coverage — Persons Under 65 with Any Coverage
  • Birth Rates for Teenagers 15-19 Years of Age (per 1,000 women)
  • Infant Mortality rates 1,000 Live Births
  • Adult Obesity Prevalence

Additional Information: