As the unemployment rate in the State of West Virginia is significantly higher than most other states, the West Virginia Legislature enacted the West Virginia Jobs Act, which deems it necessary for those employers contracted to perform construction work on state funded public improvement projects, which equal or exceed $500,000.00 in cost, to hire 75% of their workers from the local labor market. The local labor market is defined as including every county within the State of West Virginia as well as any county outside of West Virginia, if any portion of that county is within 50 miles of the state border.
There are certain exclusions to this requirement, which includes an exemption for projects that contain any amount of federal funding as well as an allowance for out-of-state contractors to bring two (2) of their own employees from outside the local labor market to work on the project and still remain in compliance.