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They have no choice. Either starve while the unemployment benefits run out or move to DC for a decent shot at a job offer.
Either continue to live in your childhood bedroom at Mom & Dad's place OR move your butt to DC for a job so you can pay off your student loans.
Unless you have awesome IT engineering skills, super-human talent with making people rich or you work in the health care industrial complex, you don't have a bright future in today's economy outside of the Capital Beltway region.
Why you would link to an article that proves my theory is beyond me. I never said DC didn't have a rich musical history, but that's exactly what it is, "history". I'm really not sure how you can be so delusional as to believe DC is a mecca for musicians. Pretty much every career musician I knew in high school left for greener pastures. Music and arts thrive in cities with a low COL of living and an educated population with the exception of NYC and LA because of the music industry. Your belief that musicians and artists would move to a city with a high cost of living and no hope of advancement is ludicrous on its face
Work on your reading comprehension, both for that Atlantic article and for my prior posts. And stop putting words in my mouth. It's almost if you and I aren't even having the same argument because not once did I say DC was a Mecca for pop(all subgenres of rock, rap,country) musicians. I made the point from the VERY BEGINNING that grass roots creative types have a tough time here due to the cost of living amongst other things. However, that Atlantic article does say that musicians and writers do better than average in DC so I have no idea how that article "proves" your theory(read it again). To say DC does not have a robust arts scene is pure ignorance. Artists and performers are well represented here. These are highly-trained, world class professionals, not stoner dropouts with huge egos. Almost every world capital has a big arts presence. It may not be the exalted "college music scene" but the National Symphony Orchestra and Opera might suffice for music. You continuously side-stepped the fact that DC is probably second only to New York in regards to its live theatre scene and also has one of the best literary scenes as well. But I suppose those could never make up for a rather anemic "college music scene."
So by your reasoning, I suppose Washington, D.C. is a cultural wasteland compared to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
They have no choice. Either starve while the unemployment benefits run out or move to DC for a decent shot at a job offer.
Either continue to live in your childhood bedroom at Mom & Dad's place OR move your butt to DC for a job so you can pay off your student loans.
Unless you have awesome IT engineering skills, super-human talent with making people rich or you work in the health care industrial complex, you don't have a bright future in today's economy outside of the Capital Beltway region.
Great response. I 100% agree. And the fact that people are moving here for the job programs vs building wealth in America (.com, NYC finance, TX Oil companies etc) is a double whammy. DC needs those things to happen in order to survive as it does not produce any wealth.
DC is worth it to the individual (food on the table) but for the states and the economy perspective there are probably some different answers there.
Great response. I 100% agree. And the fact that people are moving here for the job programs vs building wealth in America (.com, NYC finance, TX Oil companies etc) is a double whammy. DC needs those things to happen in order to survive as it does not produce any wealth.
DC is worth it to the individual (food on the table) but for the states and the economy perspective there are probably some different answers there.
And that's a really troubling fact of life for the rest of the country (and for those who live within 50 miles of DC). How long before the bow breaks? And why can't some of these jobs be relocated to other states? I always find it hard to believe that government programmers/analysts/contractors/paper pushers can't push paper in, say, Arizona or Ohio or Florida, or Michigan. It would relieve a lot of the traffic and chaos in this area, for sure!
DC is worth it only because of the strong job market. But just because it has a strong job market doesn't mean you are going to automatically be making 80k+ with 2-5 years experience either. If you aren't making a relatively high salary here its hard to justify living here for a considerable amount of time
And that's a really troubling fact of life for the rest of the country (and for those who live within 50 miles of DC). How long before the bow breaks? And why can't some of these jobs be relocated to other states? I always find it hard to believe that government programmers/analysts/contractors/paper pushers can't push paper in, say, Arizona or Ohio or Florida, or Michigan. It would relieve a lot of the traffic and chaos in this area, for sure!
And that's a really troubling fact of life for the rest of the country (and for those who live within 50 miles of DC). How long before the bow breaks? And why can't some of these jobs be relocated to other states? I always find it hard to believe that government programmers/analysts/contractors/paper pushers can't push paper in, say, Arizona or Ohio or Florida, or Michigan. It would relieve a lot of the traffic and chaos in this area, for sure!
"the federal government employs more than 5% of North Carolina workers."
"Nearly 6% of the workforce in Washington was employed by the federal government" - this refers to Washington State in the Pacific Northwest.
"Government employs 9.2% of Mississippi’s workforce, one of the highest percentages of all states."
"More than 8% of New Mexico’s workforce was employed by the federal government."
"In Virginia, more than 11% of all workers were federal government employees"
"More than 13% of all workers in Maryland worked for the federal government as of 2012."
"Nearly 13% of workers in Hawaii worked for the federal government"
"A whopping 28% of Alaska workers were employed by some government entity, more than any other state in the U.S."
In short, it looks like it is spread around as well....it would be interesting to find other figures though....not the best source, coming from some random website.
I'd be interested to see those stats as well. I'd also like to know how many contractors are in these areas (I'm presuming those percentages you listed are strictly gov workers). With teleworking, remote access VPNs, etc. I don't know why we need *so many* contractor offices in the DC area when many of these people could be working from a home base elsewhere.
"the federal government employs more than 5% of North Carolina workers."
"Nearly 6% of the workforce in Washington was employed by the federal government" - this refers to Washington State in the Pacific Northwest.
"Government employs 9.2% of Mississippi’s workforce, one of the highest percentages of all states."
"More than 8% of New Mexico’s workforce was employed by the federal government."
"In Virginia, more than 11% of all workers were federal government employees"
"More than 13% of all workers in Maryland worked for the federal government as of 2012."
"Nearly 13% of workers in Hawaii worked for the federal government"
"A whopping 28% of Alaska workers were employed by some government entity, more than any other state in the U.S."
In short, it looks like it is spread around as well....it would be interesting to find other figures though....not the best source, coming from some random website.
I'd be interested to see those stats as well. I'd also like to know how many contractors are in these areas (I'm presuming those percentages you listed are strictly gov workers). With teleworking, remote access VPNs, etc. I don't know why we need *so many* contractor offices in the DC area when many of these people could be working from a home base elsewhere.
If you are interested, it takes minutes to find find 1) federal employees by state and 2) federal contracting dollars by state online.
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