VA/DC/MD Unemployment Rate (Richmond, Fairfax: crime rates, homes, employment)

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by terrence81

Yeah moving might not be the best indicator because often a spouse will move and the household goes from two income to one income while the other spouse looks for a job.

I don't think that's the main reason why the DC number is what it is. In order to address that a little more usefully, we'd have to see neighborhood-by-neighborhood or at least a quandrant-by-quadrant break down of the numbers.

[snooper]

I read somewhere that the unemployment rate in the neigborhood near American University in NW Washington DC which is mostly White College Educated Yuppies is like 2%, even in the worst job market since the Great Depression.

I work in a DC employer with lots of low skilled poorly educated workers in one of our divisions. You should see these workers resumes and watch them in job interviews. I see see why SE Washington DC has such a high unemployment rate.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Judging from the numbers, Virginia, especially Northern Virginia, has out-performed its local competition. Aside from the usually-cited lower taxes and business-friendly environment, what advantages does it have over Maryland and DC?

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

Judging from the numbers, Virginia, especially Northern Virginia, has out-performed its local competition. Aside from the usually-cited lower taxes and business-friendly environment, what advantages does it have over Maryland and DC?

Dulles and National airports are more popular than BWI with business travelers. Plus Dulles is a true international gateway. VA also has the Pentagon, although that's not terribly inconvenient to MD and DC. Most of the parts of MD that are in close proximity to Capitol Hill aren't particularly nice.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Dulles and National airports are more popular than BWI with business travelers. Plus Dulles is a true international gateway. VA also has the Pentagon, although that's not terribly inconvenient to MD and DC.

Have you ever seen the effects of these quantified in terms of chronically higher employment compared to MD and DC?

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

Have you ever seen the effects of these quantified in terms of chronically higher employment compared to MD and DC?

My assessments are purely subjective based on living here 20+ years. Someone like BBD or Tysonengineer would likely have actual data. When I moved here to work on Capitol Hill I was given advice to look and live in VA since I had a family in need of an SFH. At the time, the nicer areas closest to my job were in VA. I picked Mount Vernon and stayed, never regretting that decision.

One other possibility is folks in NoVA are more likely migrants with jobs already lined up versus in MD where you have a lot more multi-generational residents. But again that's all based on grandfather research.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

I think airports and the Pentagon help, but I would suspect they are not the main reasons why in the recent years VA and especially NoVA seem to out-employ MD and DC. After all, the airports and the Pentagon have been here for some time now.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

I think airports and the Pentagon help, but I would suspect they are not the main reasons why in the recent years VA and especially NoVA seem to out-employ MD and DC. After all, the airports and the Pentagon have been here for some time now.

Like with real estate values - location, location, location.

It's likely the happy confluence of a number of factors, not just one thing.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

It's likely the happy confluence of a number of factors, not just one thing.

And it is exactly that "number of factors" I am asking others to contribute, in addition to the oft-stated propinquity to DC, lower tax rates (than other jurisdictions in the area) and business-friendly environment.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

And it is exactly that "number of factors" I am asking others to contribute, in addition to the oft-stated propinquity to DC, lower tax rates (than other jurisdictions in the area) and business-friendly environment.

Why did Silicon Valley grow up around San Jose rather than the East Bay or Marin? There you don't even have any variation in tax rates or business regulation. It just happened perhaps aided by some preexisting core industry (Lockheed in that case). Certain places take on a critical mass and the momentum builds.