The war in Iran could wind up being a good thing for Virginia’s employment numbers.
Unemployment is rising across Virginia, although Northern Virginia is seeing the most dramatic spike. That's according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Terry Clower at George Mason University says the surge of defense spending because of the war in Iran could change the employment dynamics in Northern Virginia.
"And it's not that we manufacture those particular munitions," Clower says. "But since the manufacturers of those munitions have their headquarters in Northern Virginia, several of them do, there's a little bit of that money that actually would help us, even if the actual manufacturing occurs in another state."
John Provo at Virginia Tech says the rest of Virginia will probably also benefit because of the war.
"We've had big announcements in the rest of Virginia that were related to defense manufacturing," Provo says. "So, L3 near Charlottesville and the rocket producer that's going to go into Southern Virginia."
He says recent weeks have seen job announcements that are defense related, but also from other sectors including manufacturing, energy and data centers.
