Today, Stephen Fuller, Ph.D., the Director of The Stephen S. Fuller Institute at the Schar School of Public Policy and Government at George Mason University, announced at the 25th Annual Economic Conference hosted by Cardinal Bank, the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, George Mason University, and the Washington Business Journal, that the Washington region’s economy continues to struggle to pivot away from its historic dependence on federal spending.

The Washington area’s longtime dependence on federal money has always been something of a blessing and a curse. It allowed the region to be one of the nation’s few economic bright spots after the financial crisis gutted the national economy in 2009, attracting job seekers to the District in droves and spurring a development boom here. But four years later, hiring ground to a halt as congressional gridlock forced a government shutdown and federal budgets were slashed as part of the sequestration process, even though the recovery was gaining momentum elsewhere.

Next month, Inauguration Day weekend will draw crowds of people, perhaps a million or more, to the nation’s capital in celebration or dissent. No matter which side of the political fence they represent, they’re likely to spend money while they’re in D.C., boosting the local economy.

The D.C. metropolitan area added 65,500 jobs in the one-year period ending in November, a 2 percent growth rate that outstripped the rest of the nation as a whole, according to government data released Friday morning. An analysis by the Stephen S. Fuller Institute, a new economic research group at George Mason University, found that the region is on track to average 2.2 percent employment growth in 2016, which would be the strongest growth rate here since 2004.