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The Wall Street Journal has one of their career trends by ordinal list pieces today on where young people in the United States are deciding to move during the recession, and once again Washington, D.C. is at the top of the list. We've heard almost all of this before, but here's why the newspaper says the D.C. area is the best option for young job seekers:
Government hiring is projected to grow fast, and jobs in lobbying, aerospace, defense contracting and professional services are also a draw. Mr. DeVol calls Washington the national leader in high-tech services, surpassing Silicon Valley. Washington's 4,000-plus nonprofits hold appeal for service-minded youth. And amid rising regulation of financial markets, says Barbara Lang, president of the DC Chamber of Commerce, "much of Wall Street is now moving to K Street."
No big arguments from us here, though we can appreciate finally seeing a little hedging on the sustainability of the "so many government jobs" argument at the end of the D.C. blurb, too. At some point, the federal government is going to have to make cuts, just like all state and local governments have been doing for the last year or so.
Not quite sure how we feel about being scored as "a tie" with that *other* Washington city, Seattle, though. They may have plenty of high-tech jobs and tasty coffee and outdoorsy charm, but surely the endless, soul-crushing rain and gray skies have to be a factor here.
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At some point, the federal government is going to have to make cuts, just like all state and local governments have been doing for the last year or so.
And you're basing this analysis on what evidence? Defecit spending is the coin of the realm (ha!) with the Feds. Kinda goes along with that license to print money, and all those carpetbaggers have a lot of crazy promises to keep! I vaguely recall a time during the second Clinton Administration when the Feds were running a surplus. A couple years of Iraq and free money for businesses that were too-big-to-fail managed to take care of that little blip on the fiscal radar.
Monkey is right. Bad times are when the Fed spends more money. Most economists agree on that approach.
Not quite sure how we feel about being scored as "a tie" with that *other* Washington city, Seattle, though. They may have plenty of high-tech jobs and tasty coffee and outdoorsy charm, but surely the endless, soul-crushing rain and gray skies have to be a factor here
You forgot the low crime AND awesome firearm laws. (yes, it is me).
count gore devol is an economist?
The cuts won't hit the fed jobs here, but it might be the non-profits that feel the squeeze. Lower endowments and membership dues + state and local budgets cuts hurt their ability to keep full-time staff.
As a Seattle native, I'd just like to point out that it actually does not rain as much as people think. It rained a hell of a lot more here this summer than it did there. And it wasn't nearly as humid, making it a hotter, nicer, more pleasant summer. Also, inch for inch, DC gets more rain than Seattle. They just have it for more days. And yes the fall/winter months of gray skies can be depressing, but you get used to it. Plus, the natural beauty of the area (no matter if it's gray or rainy) still cannot be beat. I always love flying into Seattle and always will. That said - DC's awesome too.
And yes the fall/winter months of gray skies can be depressing, but you get used to it.
Well, to be fair, DC's double-amputee muggers with shotguns can be depressing, but you get used to them.
Brett, as a native Oregonian (Portland is number four on that list despite the severe lack of jobs there), I'll second your case for the Pacific Northwest. You're absolutely right. And yes, I'm biased.
Agreed. (Tacoma native, but the weather's the same.)
There are not many places on earth more beautiful than Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, even when taking the gray skies into account.
I've lived here nine years now, and every single summer and every single winter I swear it's my last and that I'll move back to the NW.
So, go then.
+1
The so-called "Great Northwest," California, NYC, and most of the northern hemisphere can fall into the sea. It's a Third World $h!thole Eisengard wannabe compared to Australia. In Australia, all the wallabys fart rainbows and poop shrimp on Barbie. And the toilet water spirals in the proper clockwise fashion. In Australia.
OK - I may regret asking ... but what is up with you and Australia?
Not sure, but it may have something to do with the Thunder from Down Under.
Now can we stop talking about the weather? zzzzzz
Logan Resident: have you ever had a transplanted acquaintance who couldn't shut up about how much better it was where they were from? Say, a New Yorker, ranking on how awful DC's pizza/transportation/fashion is? Well, Monkey & I had an Australian. If it's so much better there, why are you here?
Here ya go.
"In Australia" is a sort of shorthand for the f**king expat buttholes who long to go back to wherethef**kever they came from and can't STFU about how great NYC/the Northwest/Australia is and why don't they f**king do us all a big fat f**king favor and get a one way ticke the f**k out of DC because we're all really tired of hearing about how great NYC/the Northwest/Australia is.
These people are always living in the past or living for when they can get out of this Third World $h!thole Eisengard wannabe town and they're never IN THE MOMENT. They can't appreciate what "the now" has to offer. These are the same people who are totally distracted when you're f**king them because they're already thinking about what they're going to make for a snack later or hoping they don't miss the game on ESPN later or wondering what their old boyfriend is up to at which point you just want to bust a nut and go to sleep and you really have to stifle the urge to f**king punch them in the face.
Sorry, but you asked.
blah blah blah you homogenized Pacific Northwest white hippies. ;-)
But yes, 'tis true, Pacific Northwest gets less average annual rainfall than the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Texas.
Well I married me a wife
Been trouble all my life
Whining that Seattle gets less rain and snow
Rain and snoooooooow
Now she's working on the Hill
Got a voice that's loud and shrill
And I ain't gonna be treated thisaway
This awaaaaaaaaaaaay
@brett: "Also, inch for inch, DC gets more rain than Seattle."
That's not actually true. D.C. gets two inches more annual precipitation than Seattle, not rain. D.C. has more snowfall, which accounts for the difference. The real statistic that should be used is the number of rainy days per year; Seattle beats D.C. 138 to 115.
Snow and Rain are considered precipitation and included in the same measurement:
"Rain and snow are usually measured in the same gauge (snow is melted before measuring), but the measurement of precipitation that falls as snow is subject to greater error due to wind effects."
Exactly. They're both counted as precipitation. Since D.C. gets more snow, that's why we have more precipitation. But I don't think snow gives the same "gloomy" effect like rain... snow just causes a state of panic.
alewis, are you serious?
Wow. I'm not even sure how to respond.
Precipitation is precipitation is precipitation. By any other name, precipitation is still precipitation.
Does this mean we will suffer an infestation of androgynous beings in skinny jeans and white socks too?
Can we hunt them? Is there a bag limit, and does it include their fixee?
No, just more dorks, as usual.
One would think our reputation of being less-than-hospitable towards Northwestern theremin bands would tip the anti-hiptardy cachet in DC's favor. Pity. Perhaps an increase in malevolent thuggishness is in order?
Perhaps an increase in malevolent thuggishness is in order?
Convince them all to live over near 12th and Girard or 14th and Euclid?
Fact 1: We are entering the peak retirement years for the Feds.
Fat 2: We get more rain. DCA average 39.8", SEA average 38.6". But we get a whole 19 more days of sun.
RJ: spot on, I'm glad to see someone (sadly not usually the bloggers themselves) is actually checking the facts!
One of my college roomies was a Seattle-ite and threw this tidbit my way: while the rainfall was very regular, it was predominantly light showers, no umbrella necessary. She was SHOCKED by the monsoon-like, umbrella-shattering downpours that we get here.
While we get more rain, it's concentrated into fewer days.
"endless, soul-crushing rain and gray skies"
haha! sounds like you've never seen Seattle on a bluebird winter day surrounded by GREEN trees (unlike the blah winter palette out here!), or on a deliciously cool and clear summer day when the heat is very rarely so oppressive that you have to stay inside glued to an ac unit (ahem, DC!). And I didn't even OWN an umbrella before moving out here... the Seattle drizzle rarely requires more than a hoodie or a lightweight shell.
Please keep spreading this misnomer and discourage folks from moving to the Pacific NW... got enough Californian crazies moving up there already.
They may have plenty of high-tech jobs and tasty coffee and outdoorsy charm, but surely the endless, soul-crushing rain and gray skies have to be a factor here.
I believe the winter skies in Vancouver (not terribly unlike the winter skies in Seattle) were described as "Windex-blue" by the New York Times once. Though blue skies don't have much appeal in and of themselves for me - I promised myself a while ago that I wouldn't live in any arid region where things don't naturally grow.
Anyway, I have long-term plans to move to Seattle from DC, and I just want to second pretty much everyone, including Kurt Cobain: Jesus doesn't want it for a sunbeam. Sunbeams were not made like Seattle.
I lived in the Seattle area for a brief time in the mid-80's and my memories are: moss-covered roofs, being cold, a woman who worked in a candy store who told my mother to move back to Chicago because outsiders weren't welcome in the glorious NW, and a middle school filled with kids so mean that they chose as student council president some poor kid from special ed. As a joke. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
As opposed to DC, where all the kids are special ed, not just the student council president.