George Hammond, director of the Economic Outlook project at West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics, recently declared that "The state job recession is officially dead." Certainly, the numbers are encouraging. The statewide unemployment rate is 4.3 percent.

"The state is now adding jobs. West Virginia is breaking new ground in terms of employment," Hammond told the Daily Mail's Brandon Lee Dingess.

State government just closed the budget year having collected $433 million more in revenue than it expected. Tax collections jumped almost 14 percent from the previous year. Higher energy prices raised severance tax receipts by $64 million. Corporate net and business franchise tax collections increased by $99 million. Personal income tax collections rose by $100 million.

Now to build on that encouraging turn of events.

The state remains second-last among the 50 states in economic activity. The National Center for Policy Analysis, a think tank that promotes economic growth, recently looked at the level of "economic freedom" of the various states. It stands to reason that the private sector will do best where the public sector poses the least burden.

The center ranked states on the size of their tax burden, the size of the state'S government in relation to its economy, and the flexibility of the state's labor market. Delaware led the nation with a per capita gross domestic product of $58,503 -- well above the $47,922 posted by second-place Connecticut. And more than double the $25,219 posted by West Virginia.

The report included the 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. Four of the 10 Canadian provinces ranked ahead of West Virginia.

The state ranked dead last -- 60th place -- among the 50 states and 10 provinces in terms of government's size in relation to the size of its economy.

"West Virginia is the eighth-most taxed with a state and local tax burden of 10.6 percent," the report said.

It has been said time and again that state government is larger than taxpayers can afford. Yet West Virginia's political class has tended to see growth in the public sector as success.

That's a ruinously shortsighted approach. If West Virginia cut government's imposition on the economy, everybody would be better off. That includes state government.