Category: Blog

Long Bridge Expansion

The Long Bridge is a two-track railroad bridge crossing the Potomac River between Arlington County, VA and Washington, D.C. A new two-track rail bridge, a fourth track addition in Alexandria and station improvements to L’Enfant, Crystal City, and Alexandria are being examined (the Long Bridge projects). These improvements would allow an increase of the total number of daily trains crossing the Long Bridge by 80 trains compared to a no-build scenario. The addition of 80 daily trains crossing the Long Bridge will benefit the national economy and the economies of Virginia, Maryland and the District.

National Jobs Revisions & Regional Jobs in July

On August 21, 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the preliminary revision for national jobs data. According this preliminary adjustment, the U.S. added 501,000 (20.1%) fewer jobs between March 2018 and March 2019 than were initially reported. Despite this revision, revisions in March 2020 to local jobs data will not necessarily be as large, because the jobs being revised away from the national estimate were never allocated to any state-level data.

The Washington Region Added 29,800 Jobs between April 2018 & April 2019

The Washington region’s job growth in 2019 continues to be subdued and the average gain in the first four months was 28,200, 20.0 percent smaller than the gain in 2018. Job growth in the region has also been increasingly concentrated both by sector and geography, a trend that extends back to the 2014. The Professional & Business Services and Leisure & Hospitality sectors accounted for nearly all (99.9%) of the average growth in the first four months of 2019. Similarly, job growth has been disproportionately concentrated in Northern Virginia, which captured 91.3 percent of the year-to-date gains.

The Washington Region’s Population Increased 0.8 Percent in 2018

Population growth in the Washington region and all three sub-state areas slowed in 2018. The region continues to lose residents as a result of net domestic migration and 2018 marked the fifth consecutive year of losses from this component of population change. The rate of net domestic out-migration was more severe in 2018 compared to 2017, but not as sharp as in 2015 and 2016. Of the 15 largest metro areas, the region performed near the middle of the pack, ranking seventh in terms of population growth and tenth in terms of its net domestic migration rate in 2018.