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April 9, 2025
Neighbors,
As the federal government continues to slash its workforce, the full impact on our residents — many of whom are federal workers or contractors — our community and our economy haven’t been felt yet.
I have talked to many Hunter Mill residents who have been affected and I’ve heard how people’s lives have been upended. Along with my colleagues on the Board, I’m also closely monitoring the broader economic impacts caused by DOGE’s and other moves by the new administration. Yesterday, we received a briefing from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority on their economic impact study.
Fairfax County is home to more than 80,000 federal employees which represents 13% of the county’s workforce. Thousands more are employed as federal contractors.
The EDA study looked at three scenarios for federal job cuts: 10% workforce reductions, 20% and 30%. At a 20% reduction, Fairfax County would see a projected total loss of over 82,000 jobs, including federal and non-federal jobs. The result would be equivalent to a $20.1 billion reduction in the county’s total economic output.
So far, more than 14,000 federal workers have been laid off nationwide since March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because of the lag in reporting unemployment data, we likely won’t know the full impact of job losses in the county until this summer. As of last month, however, 86 federal contractors in Fairfax County reported that some of their contracts were canceled. The largest of these so far is MITRE, which is based in Tysons, intends to eliminate more than 400 jobs.
As the situation continues, the Board is also committed to helping displaced workers. Take a look at Fairfax County’s resource hub that includes the following job resources:
Regards,
Walter
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