For too long, West Virginia has sat at the bottom of health, education and economic rankings. Policymakers have spent decades trying to solve these problems, but frustratingly little progress has occurred. Action, not platitudes, is needed for true growth.

If we want to truly move the needle, we must stop treating the symptoms and instead focus on the real disease: For too long, our state simply didn’t do enough to create an attractive enough investment and regulatory climate.

That’s why I signed an executive order establishing an economic Backyard Brawl on my first day in office. Our goal is nothing less than to make West Virginia the most attractive state in our region to live, work and raise a family.

With the building blocks being put into place by those in the past and our current Team West Virginia, we are finally in the game.

This legislative session, we passed new laws that lay at the foundation of our economic development strategy. HB 2002, the One-Stop Permitting bill, is going to make the permitting process faster than in the states we touch, making West Virginia an attractive destination for businesses that want to get up and running quickly. SB 458, which establishes universal licensing reciprocity, makes it simple for new residents to get to work right away in their established fields. And HB 2014, the Power Generation and Consumption Act, makes West Virginia a nationwide destination for new data centers to locate, offering jobs and massive revenue streams to counties and the state.

Keep in mind, before this year, we had precious few tools in place to recruit data centers — which is why we had none. Now, we are engaging with all of the top companies because they know our new law is a difference maker.

With these key pieces of legislation beginning to take effect, we’ve built an offensive line to open up holes for us to run through.

These new laws remove some sizable roadblocks that have prevented our state in the past from attracting the large business investments that produce a high volume of good-paying jobs.

On a football field, split-second execution can be the difference between getting tackled in the backfield and a big gain. But in the world of economic development, things tend to take a little longer to develop. Sure, you could use billions of federal money, when those dollars are available, to buy some temporary wins, but in the end, we have to improve the fundamentals to move the ball down the field on a consistent basis. That means having the strongest red tape-free environment, the best educated workforce, training and retention systems and areas of dominance (such as our fossil fuel energy mix) where we can uniquely offer things other states cannot.

West Virginia is focused on building sustainable, long-term momentum. We’re implementing a strategy that will compound over time and deliver durable results for generations to come.

In 2024, West Virginia saw a steady decline in the labor force, with the unemployment rate holding between 4 percent and 4.1 percent. This year, the labor force has been steady with unemployment dropping to 3.7 percent. We’ve seen growth in some key industries, including construction and health care. While these numbers are nothing to spike the football over, we have stopped the negative trend from 2024 and early this year so that we can begin to move in the right direction.

Importantly, we’re also seeing more people getting to work.

Since launching our new licensing reforms, the number of contractor licenses issued by the West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board is surging. From April through July of this year, initial licenses increased significantly compared to the same period last year. These aren’t abstract numbers — they represent new opportunities for skilled workers and small businesses to grow right here in West Virginia.

My newly announced Grow West Virginia initiative will act as the skill players we need to get the ball across the goal line. The plan rests on five core pillars designed to turbocharge our state’s economy, aiming to increase paychecks, create jobs, unleash the free market, generate new opportunities and boost labor force participation.

Our overall strategy recognizes that genuine economic growth requires more than handouts to individual companies and throwing money against the wall hoping it sticks. Our intent is to create an environment where businesses want to locate, workers can earn good wages, and families can feel confident in their future. We can’t rely on trick plays and lucky bounces to score — we need a solid game plan with multiple offensive threats to consistently move the ball forward on offense.

That’s what we are doing now.

Jobs lie at the heart of Grow West Virginia. That’s why a key component of the plan is the West Virginia Jobs Initiative, a first-of-its-kind, $50 million fund designed to provide targeted investments that will complement the state’s broader economic development efforts.

Economic transformation won’t happen overnight — we have a lot of history and obstacles to overcome. But with smart policy and sustained effort, the Grow West Virginia initiative, our red tape cutting program, a laser focus on workforce education, training and retention, we can begin to treat the root causes of our state’s problems and finally deliver the prosperity our people deserve.

We have focused on shoring up the fundamentals and putting a game plan into place to lead us to success. Now, we’re executing and poised for success.

I said in my State of the State speech that we are beginning our comeback — and I’m confident our economic development strategy is going to lead us to victory.

(Morrisey is the governor of West Virginia)