Virginia’s job market has taken a hit, with Northern Virginia receiving the brunt of it. The state’s unemployment rate has risen for six consecutive months due to the sweeping layoffs impacting the federal government.
A recent report from the Northern Virginia Chamber highlighted the challenges faced by workers in Northern Virginia, calling for the region to reinvent its economy in the wake of President Donald Trump’s administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce.
Reporter Mimi Montgomery of Axios D.C. joined WTOP’s Nick Iannelli to share more about the effect these cuts are having on the region, the response from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and how the cuts may play a role in the state’s upcoming election.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Mimi Montgomery: You mentioned how Virginia had gone down in the top state for business rankings, but last month, in June, it was also the only state in the nation that saw an increase in unemployment, and its unemployment rate has been rising for six consecutive months. So this is something that is sort of a trend that we’ve been seeing happening in the state for quite some time.
A lot of leaders in Northern Virginia are particularly worried about this, because the region has traditionally been sort of like an economic engine for the state, and what’s really hurting because of the loss of federal jobs due to the Trump administration’s federal cuts between May and June. Northern Virginia saw the biggest employment decline out of all of Virginia’s metros. So this is something that regionally in the D.C. area, Northern Virginia specifically, is really sort of hitting home for folks amidst this already bleak landscape for Virginia’s economy.
Nick Iannelli: We knew right when the Trump administration started talking about the sweeping job cuts that Virginia would be impacted pretty significantly relative to other states, just given the nature of the makeup of Virginia’s workforce. So now that we’re starting to see numbers that would indicate that has come to fruition, what are some of the local leaders saying about this? Is there a response that leaders are calling for, or is it mostly just pointing to the numbers and saying, look, this is a negative thing, or where do we stand right now as it relates to some action or some response from leadership?
Mimi Montgomery: As far as response, we have seen some very public outcry. A bunch of Northern Virginia business leaders were recently surveyed by the Chamber of Commerce, and about 80% of them said that they’re really concerned about the impact that DOGE is having on the local economy, and they cited federal layoffs and inflation as some of the biggest concerns they have going right now.
Some of these Virginia leaders have been calling out Youngkin’s administration and Trump’s policies, and the gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger just wrote an op-ed for Fox News in which she also calls out a lot of Youngkin’s policies. So, so far, we haven’t seen a ton of action. I think what a lot of folks are looking forward to is for the governor’s race that’s happening later this year.
Nick Iannelli: Yeah, absolutely. The governor’s race is going to be watched around the country because of this very reason, with political observers thinking that this might give the country an indication of where voters are leaning, especially heading into next year. How about any response from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin? He has aligned himself with President Trump. What has his response been when he looks at some of these numbers?
Mimi Montgomery: So he actually just announced a statement after the June jobs report came out, and a lot of folks were upset about it. He did acknowledge that although there has been a decrease in jobs last month, that overall, year over year, from June of this year to June of last year, jobs are up.
He really is taking a bird’s-eye view of this and encouraging people to sort of believe in Virginia’s resilience as an economic driver and as a successful business landscape, and sort of urging folks not to lose hope and sort of stick with Virginia during this. We haven’t seen the end of this story yet. There will be more federal workers who will come off the government payroll this fall because they took deferred resignations or buyouts. It’s likely that we might see the number of unemployed folks rise in Virginia as we continue throughout the year.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
