a state of dependence

More than half of the state's adult population is not gainfully employed. Only 48.6 percent of working-age adults have a job or are seeking one.

The 774,900 people participating in the labor force constituted the state's smallest labor force since January 1993 — despite an increase in population, particularly among those old enough to work.

Dependence, on the other hand, is alive and well.

Federal spending on Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps and the like in West Virginia totaled nearly $23 billion in 2010, or about one-third of the state's $66 billion economy.

The economic exodus from West Virginia has been going on for the more than six decades since the end of World War II.

http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/Editorials/201108221577