unemployment

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Ice on tree branches

Metro Proposes Loop Line — Metro officials are considering a proposal for establishing a loop line between Arlington and the District. The line would include a new cross-Potomac River connection between Arlington and Georgetown in D.C., plus new stations near Rosslyn and the Pentagon in Arlington, and in Georgetown, Logan Circle and East Potomac Park in D.C.  However, the plan also eliminates the direct Yellow Line connection between Arlington and downtown D.C. [Greater Greater Washington]

Unemployment Rises in Arlington — The unemployment rate in Arlington rose from 3.7 percent in August to 3.9 percent in October. However, Arlington’s unemployment rate remains the lowest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. [Sun Gazette]

Man Attacks Officer Across From Police Station — A 48-year-old homeless man is accused of assaulting a police officer across from Arlington County police headquarters in Courthouse. Police say the man was “shouting profanity” and “chasing after people” before the alleged scuffle with police. [Patch]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Sunrise over Courthouse and Rosslyn (Flickr pool photo by J.D. Moore)

Prince Harry to Visit Arlington — Britain’s Prince Harry will be in the U.S. for six days in May, and Arlington is among his stops. His trip includes a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where he will pay respects to those killed in recent conflicts. Prince Harry will also stop at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to visit wounded warriors, and Capitol Hill to see an exhibition on clearing landmines. [Reuters, Washingtonian]

Tea Party Calls for Action Against “Soviet” Arlington — The streetcar town hall meeting tomorrow night (Wednesday) is drumming up a lot of attention, including a post in the Northern Virginia Tea Party Newsletter. It posted “A Letter from behind the lines in Soviet Arlington,” calling on streetcar opponents to attend the meeting to demonstrate against what it calls “the county board’s pet streetcar project.” [Blue Virginia]

Arlington Unemployment Sees January Increase — The county’s unemployment rate experienced a bump up from December to January, rising from 3.3 percent to 3.9 percent. Figures released last week show there were nearly 131,200 Arlington residents in the civilian workforce in January, with more than 5,300 looking for work. Such unemployment bumps are not unexpected following the holidays, and also occurred in the surrounding areas of Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Alexandria and Prince William County. Arlington still has the lowest unemployment rate in the state, with the exception of the town of Leesburg (3.7 percent) which is not included in the rankings. [Sun Gazette]

Flickr pool photo by J.D. Moore

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Man Busted for Meth Lab Worked for USA Today — One of the men arrested in connection with a suspected meth lab in a Virginia Square apartment building used to be a journalist who was regularly published in USA Today. Leonard Fischer, 44, was formerly a technology reporter for Gannett News Service. [Jim Romenesko, Kenneth in the 212]

Arlington Unemployment Rate Declines — Arlington still has the lowest unemployment rate in Virginia. Arlington’s jobless rate dipped from 3.7 percent in June to 3.5 percent in July, according to newly-released data. The average in Virginia is 6 percent, and the national unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. [Sun Gazette]

Outdoor Movie Lineup Announced — Crystal City’s lineup of outdoor movies for 2013 has been announced. The series — with the theme of “Blockbusters” — will kick of with E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial on June 3, 2013 and will wrap up with Jurassic Park on Aug. 26, 2013. The lineup was chosen via online vote by members of the public. [Crystal City]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Support for the Pike Streetcar — A Greater Greater Washington writer opines that “Columbia Pike’s proposed streetcar line will help revitalize one of Arlington county’s busiest corridor.” Ryan Arnold writes: “[The streetcar is] the latest chapter in the decades-long story of Arlington’s coordination of land-use and transit planning to develop successful communities.” [Greater Greater Washington]

Arlington Unemployment Rate Dips — Arlington County’s unemployment rate is now 3.1 percent, down from 3.5 percent a month prior. Arlington’s rate is the lowest in Virginia and compares to the state’s overall unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. [Sun Gazette]

Bond Rating Reaffirmed — Fitch Ratings has reaffirmed Arlington’s AAA bond rating, the highest rating possible. “Arlington recognizes the importance of the AAA rating, and our financial policies help ensure that it will be maintained,” County Manager Barbara Donnellan said in a statement. “Having the highest possible rating allows us to continue making critical capital investments at the lowest possible cost to residents and businesses.” [Arlington County]

Flickr pool photo by Damiec

Obama Unveils Jobs Plan During Arlington Visit

By Katie Pyzyk

President Obama chose Arlington’s Fire Station No. 5 (1750 S. Hayes St) as the place to deliver a speech about the creation of a new Veterans Jobs Corps.

Around 11:30 a.m. the President arrived at the fire station via motorcade and took the stage to announce his new $1 billion initiative, which he highlighted during the State of the Union address last month. The program particularly targets veterans who have served since 9/11 — a group whose unemployment rate is currently hovering around 13 percent.

“Our veterans are some of the most highly trained, highly educated, highly skilled workers that we’ve got,” said the President. “These are Americans that every business should be competing to attract.”

Under the initiative, 20,000 veterans will be put to work over the next five years on a Veterans Job Corps conservation program, which will “restore our great outdoors by providing visitor programs, restoring habitat, protecting cultural resources, eradicating invasive species, and operating facilities,” according to the White House. The corps will also “repair and rehabilitate trails, roads, levees, recreation facilities and other assets.”

In addition to the Veterans Job Corps, the president announced that he will seek $5 billion in funding to boost local police and firefighter hiring. Preference for those jobs would be given to post-9/11 veterans.

“Let’s get more cops on the beat. Let’s gets more rangers in the parks. Let’s get more firefighters on call,” Obama said today. “And, in the process, we’re going to put more veterans back to work. It’s good for our communities, it’s good for our economy, and it’s good for our country.”

The president explained that in addition to contributing to the overall good of communities, there will be specific financial benefits for taking part in the initiative.

“Today, we’re announcing that communities who make it a priority to recruit veterans will be among the first in line when it comes to getting help from the federal government,” the president said.

(more…)

Arlington County Holds its Largest Career Fair Yet

By ARLnow.com

Arlington may have the Virginia’s lowest unemployment rate, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t residents who are still looking for jobs.

Case in point: today’s Arlington Employment Center Fall Career Fair, which has already drawn more than 700 job seekers to the employment center’s new offices at 2100 Washington Boulevard.

The career fair, which runs through 2:00 p.m., is the largest such event the county-run employment center has ever held. The center, which has mostly focused on job events featuring one or two employers, brought in nearly two dozen employers for today’s event. Among the organizations represented were Geico, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Virginia Hospital Center, Gaylord Hotels and Trader Joe’s.

Arlington Employment Center managers are hoping to be able to organize more job fairs like this in the future.

“Our job is to get people back to work,” said employment center director Howard Feldstein, who called today’s event “a huge success.”

Arlington’s Top 10 Government and Private Employers

By ARLnow.com

Things are looking pretty good for Arlington, economy-wise — at least according to a presentation this morning by Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer.

Unemployment and office vacancies are low. Real estate prices and hotel occupancy rates are on the rise. And a number of new construction projects are underway. Holzheimer said he expects the local unemployment rate to continue declining in 2011 while the impact from BRAC is mitigated by a robust demand for office space.

Holzheimer noted that between 2008 and 2010, Arlington saw a net employment increase while Alexandria and Fairfax saw a net employment decline.

Today’s presentation included a list of the top public and private employers in Arlington. The total number employees in Arlington in 2011 is noted below in parenthesis.

Given the current talk in Congress of significant federal budget cuts, Arlington’s large number of government employees may be of some concern.

Private Employers

  1. Deloitte (3,490)
  2. Lockheed Martin (2,668)
  3. Virginia Hospital Center (2,042)
  4. Marriott International (1,600)
  5. Booz Allen Hamilton (1,370)
  6. SRA International (1,359)
  7. CACI (1,251)
  8. US Airways (1,300)
  9. SAIC (1,281)
  10. Corporate Executive Board (986)

(more…)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Black Friday Is a Bust at Ballston Common Mall — While other suburban shopping malls were inundated with shoppers on Friday, traditionally one of the biggest days of the year for retailers in terms of foot traffic, Ballston Common Mall was about as crowded as it normally is on a Friday afternoon (not very). “The best thing here is Rock Bottom,” one shopper explained to Ballston Patch.

Farmers Market For Westover? — A community meeting will be held at the Westover library next month to discuss the possible formation of a farmers market this spring. More from the Sun Gazette.

Arlington Has Region’s Lowest Unemployment — Once again Arlington is leading the D.C. area jobs-wise. Arlington’s unemployment rate currently stands at a remarkably low 3.9 percent. Alexandria and Loudoun County share the title for second-lowest unemployment in the region, with 4.5 percent. More from WTOP.

Another Froyo Place Coming to Arlington — The R-B corridor will have an abundance of frozen yogurt options next year. A D.C.-based, self-serve yogurt shop called FroZenYo is planning to open stores in Rosslyn and Ballston in 2011. It’s also planning on opening a store in Crystal City. More from TBD.

Flickr pool photo by Team Rank

Arlington’s Unemployment Rate Remains Low

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percent to 4.1 percent in August, easily maintaining the county’s distinction of having the lowest unemployment rate in Virginia.

By contrast, the unemployment rate statewide remained steady at 7.0 percent, Alexandria increased slightly from 4.9 to 5.0 percent, and Fairfax County decreased slightly from 5.0 to 4.9 percent. Nationally, the unemployment rate dipped 0.2 percent to 9.5 percent.

The local data was released this morning by the Virginia Employment Commission.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Unemployment Steady in Va., Down in Arlington — Arlington has kept its crown as the locality with the lowest unemployment in Virginia. The unemployment rate in Arlington fell slightly in July, from 4.3 percent to 4.2 percent. Unemployment remained steady statewide, while rising in 8 out of 14 of the state’s metro areas.

Few Foreclosures For Sale in Arlington — Local Realtor Laura Rubinchuk reports that there are only 17 foreclosed homes for sale, out of the hundreds of homes on the market in Arlington. She compiled a list of the foreclosures here.

Half of Planned Park on Hold — A delay in the redevelopment of a small shopping area next to the new Penrose Square on Columbia Pike is forcing Arlington County to consider building only half of a planned 3/4 acre public park. Construction of the park is still a ways away, though. It’s not expected to start until mid-2011. Much, much more (1,000+ words worth) from TBD.

Flickr pool photo by afagen.

Arlington County Unemployment Rate Holds Steady

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s unemployment rate is holding at a low 4.3 percent.

Employment figures just released for June show that total employment in Arlington increased from 134,010 in May to 134,579 in June. But at the same time the civilian labor force increased from 140,041 to 140,617. That produces a 4.3 percent unemployment rate for both months.

Statewide, unemployment increased from 6.9 percent to 7.1 percent during the same period.

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