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For Immediate Release
Contact: Alan Fogg,
Director of Communications
afogg@fceda.org, 703-790-0600 (o) or 571-213-5065 (m)
Fairfax County EDA worked with 130 companies that created 7,800 jobs in 2003 as local economy outpaces national recovery
130 tech and services firms announce expansion or relocation plans
Fairfax County, Virginia, January 28, 2004—In a year when many U.S. technology centers continued to lose jobs or started to emerge from recessionary conditions, 130 companies that worked with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) in 2003 added 7,838 jobs—mostly in information technology and professional services. Significant job increases came from Unisys, AT&T Government Solutions, Veridian (later bought by Fairfax County-based General Dynamics), Accenture Technology Services, Sunrise Senior Living and France-based Equant.
Typically, every new job in the primary economy spins off about two to three jobs in the secondary (non-corporate) economy, which is why Fairfax County and the northern Virginia region just outside Washington, D.C., added 22,000 jobs between November 2002 and November 2003, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The northern Virginia job numbers accounted for most of the 29,000 increase cited by the BLS for the Washington area. San Jose, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago each lost more than 30,000 jobs between November 2002 and November 2003, according to the BLS.
Business growth in Fairfax County helps fund one of the nation’s top-rated public school systems and excellent public services. Technology-sector jobs typically pay higher-than-average salaries, which helped Fairfax County achieve the highest median household income of any U.S. jurisdiction with more than 200,000 residents.
“Fairfax County continues to lead the Washington-area economy, which is one of the best in the country,” said Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D., president and CEO of the FCEDA. “The county’s proximity to the nation’s capital and Washington Dulles International Airport, the workforce, the top-ranked school system and the quality of life has kept companies coming and expanding here when other business locations are still recovering from the national recession.”
More than 4,800 technology companies operate in Fairfax County. The county also has more than 240 foreign-owned companies, seven Fortune 500 companies, seven of the 100 largest African American-owned companies in the nation, and 11 of the 500 largest Hispanic-owned firms in the country.
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (www.FairfaxCountyEDA.org) promotes Fairfax County as a business and technology center. The FCEDA assists businesses by identifying possible sites and facilities, and is a source for up-to-date demographic and economic statistics. The FCEDA also has marketing representatives in London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.
The select list of companies that created jobs in Fairfax County during 2003 is here.
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