It’s true that the metropolitan Washington region continues to enjoy an economy that, relative to the rest of the country, is performing remarkably well. COG projects the region will add more than one million jobs during the next 20 years. That’s an outstanding rate of growth, but it comes with a (big) asterisk: That figure assumes that things are going to remain business-as-usual in terms of federal government spending and employment.
That’s very unlikely to be the case. The good news is that people are drawing attention to this issue before it becomes a reality.
To maintain and improve the region’s economic growth and competitiveness, we need to develop new job sectors and recruit and retain skilled workers for those sectors. Which sectors should metropolitan Washington focus on? How will this development and recruitment occur? What resources are needed to ensure success?
COG has begun to look at ways to leverage the region’s considerable assets to hammer out a plan for economic growth and competitiveness in a new reality of fewer federal workers and less federal spending. Our members have expressed strong interest in getting this plan developed sooner rather than later. It’s important for the region’s future and I’m making it a top priority for COG in 2012.
We will be holding a series of open discussions and work sessions throughout the year that will ultimately result in the formation of an economic growth and competitiveness plan for metropolitan Washington. COG already assembles elected officials from 22 jurisdictions in the region every month and we will use this platform for the series.
Starting with the March 14 meeting of the COG Board of Directors, we will be bringing in leaders and innovators from the business, technology, nonprofit, health, energy, higher education and other sectors to provide their expertise and ideas on the plan’s development.
Some of the issues this series will focus on include:
●Assessing how the federal government has contributed to past and current economic growth in metropolitan Washington and future alternative economic paths.
●Outlining key sectors forecasted to grow over the next decades and determining which of those sectors our region should focus its recruitment and development efforts.
●Matching those growth sectors to existing regional needs, such as improved infrastructure.
●Broadening the international market for metropolitan Washington’s goods and services.
● Assessing the political and policy hurdles that need to be addressed to enable a regional strategy to succeed.
The federal government has provided a solid foundation for decades and will undoubtedly continue to play a major role in the region’s economy. However, a plan for economic growth and competitiveness will help put the region on even more solid footing, and COG is leading the way in its development.
Frank Principi is chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
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