Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Job growth in D.C. is improving, but not by much when compared to last year.
New numbers released by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis found that D.C. is still one of the worst metropolitan centers for job growth in the country.
Dr. Terry Glower, Director of the Center for Regional Analysis, says that the lack of growth stems from the D.C. economy’s dependence on federal jobs.
“We are a company town, just as if we were a mining community in West Virginia or a logging community in British Columbia,” Clower said. “We are very reliant on one particular industry.”
That industry, according to Glower, is the federal government.
Job growth in D.C. is strongly connected to federal funding and events like the government shutdown in 2013 can hurt jobs in the region.
Glower suggested diversifying businesses as a possible solution.
“We’re still a big tourism town. People want to come to the nation’s capital and we want to encourage that, but we also want to see more business visitors coming to town,” he said.
Despite the slow job growth, Glower estimates an increase of 60,000 – 70,000 jobs in 2016.
Copyright 2015 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: CNN)
