This flier contains estimates of the economic impact of research in West Virginia.

Results of a new National Science Foundation survey show that state agency expenditures for research and development and R&D facilities topped $1 billion in state fiscal year 2006. Expenditures of six states, Pennsylvania, California, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida, accounted for 49% of all state-agency research and development.

West Virginia’s school technology policies and implementation strategies are among the best in the nation according to Technology Counts 2008: STEM, The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The state received an overall score of 95.3 on the report, which ranks West Virginia at the top of the class for its use of technology. Technology Counts is published by Education Week, a weekly education magazine distributed nationwide.

The overall unemployment rate of scientists and engineers in the United States dropped from 3.2% in 2003 to 2.5% in 2006, according to data from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). This is the lowest unemployment rate measured by SESTAT since the early 1990s. It continues a trend of lower unemployment rates for scientists and engineers compared with unemployment rates in the rest of the U.S. economy.