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Keeping Young Workers at Home

Wheeling already has many characteristics that, in theory, ought to be attractive to younger working people. The quality of life here is good, with a variety of recreational and cultural opportunities. Taxes are relatively low. Housing, both rental and single-family, is comparatively inexpensive.

The list goes on, but the bottom line is that young people starting out on career paths often make leaving our area their first move.

New Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott hopes to do something about that. He is establishing a Retention Committee to look at ways the city can do more to keep young working people here and bring those who have left home.

Perhaps more can be done in that regard. But municipal government’s options are very limited because of the plain truth about why so many young people leave Wheeling: money.

Opportunities for good-paying jobs are very limited in our area. In some measure that is because of the collapse of the mining industry and before that, the closure of steel mills. There is quite a bit of competition for jobs, with many of those in the market able to list experience and skills on their resumes.

West Virginia as a whole has trouble retaining young people. But a look at Census Bureau statistics related to the problem is sobering. In a nutshell, Wheeling is a microcosm of the entire state — only worse.

According to the most recent Census numbers, 20.9 percent of West Virginians are 18 or younger. In Wheeling, the percentage is 18.5. Meanwhile, the state’s 65-and-older population is 16 percent of the total, while in Wheeling, it is 20.6 percent.

In terms of attracting young working people, the state’s median household income of $41,576 per year compares unfavorably enough to the national figure of $53,482. But here in Wheeling, the median annual household income is just $36,085.

Elliott’s new panel will begin work with a couple of strikes against it, in other words. That is all the more reason to find ways to keep young working people in Wheeling, of course.

Clearly, however, it will be other initiatives in municipal government — those involving economic development — that play the most critical role in making ours a younger city. Bringing employers who provide good new jobs to the area has to be the top priority. No amount of quality of life improvements will do much good unless the young people we hope to retain and attract can afford them.

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