New Report: Under McAuliffe/Northam, Virginia Economy Falls Behind

Under Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe and his right hand man Ralph Northam’s failed leadership, Virginia’s economy continues to fall behind, in direct contrast to the rest of the country. As Old Dominion University Economics Professor James Koch notes in the new State of the Commonwealth Report, Virginia’s economy is growing at a rate slower than the United States as a whole and the Commonwealth’s labor market is particulary worrisome due to continued stagnation. On his own website, Ralph Northam lists one of the main duties as Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor is to “work to strengthen Virginia’s economy” – but at this new analysis shows, Northam has failed to do his job.

“The second State of the Commonwealth Report once again finds the Virginia economy muddling along and growing at a rate slower than the United States as a whole. Indeed, economic growth in the nation accelerated in the third quarter of this year and the economy grew at a rate of 2.9 percent, after inflation. Meanwhile, in Virginia, our economy grew at least 1 percentage point slower and this was evidenced by disappointing tax collections.

Particularly worrisome is the continued stagnation of the commonwealth’s labor markets. Despite a rate of unemployment that hovers around 4 percent, the number of individuals actually employed in Virginia is about 16,000 below last year’s number at this time. Further, an increasing percentage of Virginians of prime working ages have chosen, for a variety of reasons, to stop looking for employment. This is bad news because one way or another, society ends up paying for their continued existence.” (James Koch, “Virginia’s Economic Growth Lags Nation,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 12/1/2016)