NVRC Releases Analysis of Federal Jobs in Region
NoVA Home to 42.2% of Federal Civilian Jobs in Commonwealth; Northern Virginia Residents hold 175,436 Federal Civilian Jobs
Northern Virginia Regional Commission’s Senior Regional Demographer, has produced a fact sheet on the federal jobs located in Northern Virginia and federal jobs held by residents of Northern Virginia. The federal jobs fact sheet is available on the Northern Virginia Regional Dashboard. More than 81,000 federal civilian jobs are located in Northern Virginia, and 175,000 federal civilian jobs are held by residents of Northern Virginia.
Understanding the number of federal jobs has been challenging because different numbers have been surfaced from various data sources, with each data source representing different aspects of the workforce. The media coverage has been incomplete, failing to present the full picture. The fact sheet and this blog aim to provide a complete picture of the data and guide policymakers and planners.
Understanding the differences between the data sources is critical to properly planning for the impacts of the federal job cuts. Let’s briefly clarify what the main differences are between the data source. For more details on the differences see the new fact sheet.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
This source indicates the number of federal workers in May 2024 in Virginia was 145K and the U.S. was 2.3M.
Place of work based
The OPM maintains data on the federal civilian workforce through the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) Data Warehouse. It is not a government-wide personnel accounting system, which causes this data to underrepresent the full number of federal employees.
Excludes a number of agencies, including security agencies. Coverage of agencies differs from Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Quarterly Census of Employment
This source indicates the number of federal workers in the 2nd Quarter of 2024 in Virginia was 193K and the U.S. was 3.0M.
Place of work based
Coverage includes employees covered under the unemployment insurance act. This is much greater coverage than the OPM personnel system.
Excludes a number of agencies, including security agencies. Coverage of agencies differs from OPM.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey
This source indicates the number of federal workers in 2023 living in Virginia was 341K and the U.S. was 4.4M.
Place of residence based
Civilian workforce, excluding armed forces
Self-reported, of which many grant holders and contractors to self-report as federal workers
It does not have agency exclusions
NVRC has been and will continue to monitor Northern Virginia unemployment and labor force closely. The monthly Economic Tracking Report can be found here: https://www.novaregiondashboard.com/workforce.
About the Northern Virginia Regional Commission
NVRC is a consortium of thirteen local governments representing more than 2.5 million residents. While only 3% of Virginia's land mass, Northern Virginia has a GDP of $302 Billion which is 42% of the GDP of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Northern Virginia’s GDP is larger than 24 states and the District of Columbia and if a country would be the 48th largest economy in the world.