By Adam Pagnucco.
Preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week on employment growth in the nation’s 356 largest counties last year shows that MoCo once again finished at the bottom of the Washington area’s largest jurisdictions. Furthermore, it posted one of the worst performances of any large county in the United States.
The chart below shows BLS’s preliminary estimates for employment growth from December 2021 through December 2022 for the ten largest local jurisdictions in the Washington region.
The chart below shows the ranks in employment growth out of the 356 largest counties for the ten largest local jurisdictions in the Washington region.
There are two big caveats here. First, the data is subject to revision. Second, December to December growth does not equal annual growth. That’s because annual employment numbers include estimates of every month’s employment, not just December. Because the preliminary data estimates that MoCo had positive 12-month employment growth in every month other than December, I bet the annual numbers will show an overall gain for Montgomery County. We shall see whether I am right when the full update is released soon.
What matters here is that MoCo will almost certainly rank at or near the bottom of the region again, not to mention that it is also one of the worst performers among its peers around the nation. This is a continuation of bad trends in many top-line economic measures going back decades.
With three back-to-back tax hikes on deck and rent control likely coming, when will our leaders get serious about turning this around?