Public Service Commission Chairman Lane’s column: Labor Day

PRESS RELEASE

West Virginia appears to be engaged in an economic resurgence as we remember to celebrate the workers of our state who made this possible.

September 7th is Labor Day. It is traditionally thought of as the last day of summer.

The idea of celebrating labor began in 1882 to honor working men and women. It became a federal holiday two years later while Grover Cleveland was president.

One might think with the new emphasis on data centers and discussion of Silicon Valley that computer and electronics would lead the nation’s current employers.

But Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger – all employee-heavy — are the top three employers in the United States. Of the top 10 national employers, only IBM, at No. 9, is focused on high-skilled technical and professional roles.

In our state, the coal industry remains a major employer and provider of fuel for the electric power industry. Natural gas, while it has a smaller workforce, is a growing part of that energy sector, too. The utilities that provide us with electricity, water, sewer, and other public convenience services also are major employers.

As with the nation as a whole, the economy of West Virginia has changed significantly since the first Labor Day.

Where once we had major heavy and labor-intensive industries, now we have smaller, more specialized plants. Our major growth areas seem to be the Eastern Panhandle, the Interstate-79 corridor between Morgantown and Flatwoods, the lower Kanawha Valley, and the Northern Panhandle.

We’ve had some good and strong economic location announcements in recent years.

The Public Service Commission regulates in some way most of the new industries locating here. We hope they bring good jobs with them and help reverse the state’s migration of population.

We oversee many of the power rates – electricity and/or natural gas – that will fuel these operations, or provide power for security, telephones, and other systems that they will be needing.

The world has certainly changed since I was a young girl living in the shadow of mighty industrial complexes that once filled the Ohio River Valley, but are no more.

And I hope the world continues to change and develop in positive ways. It’s good to remember the past, but important to look forward to exciting new opportunities for the future. 

I see only bright things for our nation and state, and I want to thank the men and women who worked so diligently to get us to where we are today.