Northern Virginia - Economy

Economy

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell described Northern Virginia as "the economic engine of the state" during a January 2010 Northern Virginia Technology Council address. The federal government is a major employer in Northern Virginia, which is home to numerous government agencies; these include the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters and the Pentagon (headquarters of the Department of Defense), as well as Fort Myer, Fort Belvoir, Marine Corps Base Quantico, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the United States Geological Survey.

Government contracting is an important part of the region's economy. Arlington alone is home to over 600 federal contractors, and has the highest weekly wages of any major jurisdiction in the Washington metropolitan area.

As of 2007, the Northern Virginia office submarkets contain 172,000,000 square feet (16,000,000 m2) of office space, 33% more than those in Washington and 55% more than those in its Maryland suburbs. 8,000,000 square feet (740,000 m2) of office space is under construction in Northern Virginia. 60% of the construction is occurring in the Dulles Corridor submarket.

Northern Virginia's data centers currently carry more than 50% of the nation's Internet traffic, and by 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all electricity it sends to Northern Virginia will be used by the region's data centers alone. Loudoun County has 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m2) of data center space and currently has 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) approved or under construction.

In September 2008 the unemployment rate in Northern Virginia was 3.2%, the lowest of any metropolitan area if ranked. The national unemployment rate in September 2008 was 6.2%. While the U.S. as a whole had negative job growth from September 2007 to September 2008, Northern Virginia gained 12,800 jobs, representing half of Virginia's new jobs. After months of increases, the unemployment rate of Northern Virginia held steady at 5.2% in March 2008. As of July 2010 the unemployment rate of the region 5.2%, down from 5.3% in the previous month.