Study: union pay increases average W.Va. worker’s salary by 11.1 percent

CHARLESTON — Pay for union workers in West Virginia is 11.1 percent higher, on average, than for nonunion workers.

That’s the finding of a joint study released Thursday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy in Charleston.

The study, called “The Union Advantage for Low-Wage Workers,” found that union membership made an even bigger difference for low-wage workers, giving them an estimated 15.8 percent more than their nonunion counterparts.

Unionized workers also are more likely to receive paid leave, health insurance or an employer-provided pension plan.

Unions can help shrink the state’s growing income inequality, Ted Boettner, director of the West Virginia agency, said in a news release.

The study found that 15.4 percent of West Virginia workers are either union members or covered by a union contract at their workplace.

The best paying jobs in the state tend to be in construction, manufacturing and mining regardless of whether they are represented by unions, said Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Those industries also are more likely to have unions than others.

He noted that manufacturing and mining are the only two sectors in West Virginia that pay above the national average. That’s why it’s important, he said, for the state to do everything it can to create more of those jobs.