Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Thursday he wants to continue economic growth in West Virginia, and announced a new initiative he believes will keep the Mountain State on an upward path.

Morrisey unveiled the Grow West Virginia Project to an audience Thursday at the State Capitol, an initiative he said will continue economic progress in the state in specific areas.

“We cannot declare success if you’re 49th or 50th in the rankings,” Morrisey said. “We have to be aggressive and we have to make sure that we’re out-competing the other states. There is a lot more work to do to advance economic development in West Virginia.”

Morrisey said he wanted the state to grow in five specific areas – residents’ paychecks, jobs, the free-market environment, opportunities and labor participation. Paycheck growth, he said, would come with eliminating taxes and fees and working with President Donald Trump’s administration to make that happen. Job growth, he continued, will come with helping current businesses expand and attracting new businesses to West Virginia.

To that, Morrisey announced the formation of the West Virginia Jobs Initiative, with $50 million to be used for targeted investments that fit into the state’s overall economic plans. Morrisey said that return on investment is the mission of that initiative.

“It’s not what we saw sometimes in the past, where you have a lot of federal money, you throw it at the wall and hope that it sticks,” he said. “Maybe it creates jobs, maybe it doesn’t.

“We’re looking at ROI in terms of every single opportunity we have to have jobs in place, and we want to make sure we’re providing the help we need – our workforce, our regulatory environment, the targeted investments that make a big difference – to encourage our free market to grow and our economy to really hum.”

The first investment of that initiative is $400,000 to Mettler Packaging, to expand its Moorefield facility. That investment, Morrisey said, will add 50 jobs in Hardy County on top of the 120 current jobs already at the facility.

Growth of the free-market environment will come, Morrisey said, with eliminating red tape and becoming the fastest state in America in terms of permitting. Moves already have been made there, he said, with Senate Bill 458, passed this last legislative session, which establishes universal licensing reciprocity, allowing West Virginia to accept personal and occupational licenses from other states. It also comes from the recently passed House Bill 2002, which establishes a streamlined permitting process and an online permitting portal for construction, infrastructure, economic development and natural resource projects.

“We’re actually going to be the best red-tape-free zone around,” Morrisey said.

Morrisey also wants to grow labor participation by getting more able-bodied West Virginia’s back to work and grow opportunities through vocational and technical education programs and a focus on attracting jobs in expanding and emerging fields.

He was asked about concerns he had with the United States Department of Education freezing funds available for adult education, and said he needed to look further into the matter.

“We’re looking forward to getting briefed by the Department of Education and others on any of the changes that may happen,” he said. “I want to make sure that we’re always putting West Virginia first and utilizing the resources that are available.”

Morrisey said that the days of West Virginia at the bottom of U.S. lists must end, and that the initiatives discussed Thursday will help make that happen.

“We have to lift up our standard of living right now,” he said. “Fiftieth is not acceptable. Fiftieth in the workforce is not acceptable. But we’re making the decisions, the steps, to make things stronger and better.”