The occupied and unoccupied valence band states of MgB $_{{\rm 2}}$ have been studied using high-resolution soft X-ray emission and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopies. In particular, the B 2p partial density of states was measured near the Fermi level. The states at the Fermi edge are identified by comparison to calculation as being of B $2p_{xy}$ origin. Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering indicates the existence of low-energy excitations at the B 1s-edge absorption threshold.
