Anxiety: A feeling of fear, uneasiness, uncertainty — worries about the future.
It’s the general tenor of just about every conversation I’ve had in recent weeks. From short-term concerns to existential questions, one thing is clear: We are in uncharted territory.
Why the anxiety? Consider the Trump administration’s effort to remake the federal government a full-scale alarm.
The Greater Washington region is home to 399,000 federal employees, per the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, making up a significant share of our workforce. Now, we’re hearing numbers that should make us all pause.
A report from the Urban Institute explores what a 25%, 50% and 75% cut in that workforce would mean. Reductions on the high range could send our unemployment rate from just under 3% to nearly 10% — without even factoring in federal contractors or the businesses that rely on them.
Others forecast that even a 10% reduction in the federal workforce would tilt the region’s economy…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.
