|
Contact: Alan Fogg, afogg@fceda.org,
703-790-0600 (office) or 571-213-5065 (mobile)
National media spotlights Fairfax
County job growth and prosperity
Fairfax County cited in Wall Street Journal,
Time; U.S. study details job boom
Fairfax County, Virginia USA, April, 9, 2007 – The
Wall Street Journal , Time magazine and The
Washington Post recently have taken notice of Fairfax
County, Virginia., for its unparalleled job growth in the
Washington, D.C., region.
The recognition – in particular of the county’s
job growth in professional and business services, which often
includes work the federal government awards to private contractors – comes
on the heels of a January 2007 U.S. Department of Labor report
that noted: “Fairfax County has emerged as the [Washington]
metropolitan area’s private-sector job leader, joining
the [District of Columbia], with its concentration of public-sector
employment, as a second major hub for regional economic activity.”
The Wall Street Journal highlighted the
economic growth taking place in Tysons Corner, Fairfax County’s
largest employment center, in a March 30, 2007, article detailing
a number of private companies benefiting from federal outsourcing: “The
Tysons Corner area and surrounding Fairfax County have enjoyed
the boom in federal procurement in the post 9/11 era, with
$18 billion of work performed in 2006, up from about $10 billion
in 2000.”
Time magazine credited Fairfax County for being
the “epicenter” of the Washington region’s
job boom, while also receiving high marks for its “excellent
public schools” in the Feb. 8, 2007, column “The
Federal Job Machine.” Fairfax County is “one of
the great economic success stories of our time,” said
columnist Justin Fox.
In a January 30, 2007, article “Fairfax Shines in Jobs
Report,” which followed release of the Labor Department
study, The Washington Post described the dual job
bases that Washington, D.C. and Fairfax County support. The
article quoted an author of the Labor Department study, Gerald
Perrins: “Your typical metropolitan area probably has
one job core, but what we are seeing in Washington is pretty
unique in that we have two distinct ones. What’s also
unique is that they coexist and are thriving on each other.”
The Labor Department study “Industry dynamics in the
Washington, D.C. area: Has a second job core emerged?” in Monthly
Labor Review analyzed employment data from 1990 to 2005: “The
professional and business services industry…grew rapidly
during this time span, and Fairfax County added these jobs
at an astonishing pace for one of the largest counties in the
metropolitan area – 123 percent – establishing
itself as a major job center alongside the District of Columbia.” The
study is available at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/12/art1full.pdf.
“We can all take pride in the recent media coverage,” said
Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Fairfax County
Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). “It is recognition
of the fact that economic development helps Fairfax County
provide high-quality public services while minimizing the burden
of paying for those services on residents.”
Business growth helps Fairfax County fund public services,
such as the nation’s top-rated school system, that contribute
to the quality of life of its residents. Fairfax County offers
businesses a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure,
access to domestic and international markets through Washington
Dulles International Airport, and a well-educated workforce.
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority ( www.FairfaxCountyEDA.org)
promotes Fairfax County as a business and technology center.
The FCEDA maintains offices worldwide in Silicon Valley, Bangalore,
Frankfurt, London, Seoul and Tel Aviv.
# # #
| 
