Virginia's economy is starting to recover from job cuts at the federal level.
The United States DOGE Service was a shock to the system in Virginia. But the latest numbers are showing a recovery. A new report from George Mason University predicts Northern Virginia will see job growth as early as December.
"I think we see a light at the end of the tunnel regarding the broadest impacts of DOGE, says Keith Waters, assistant director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.
"While we've seen leisure and hospitality drop off a little bit in terms of total employment, we haven't seen the massive pullback in leisure and hospitality that might have been anticipated given the impacts of DOGE."
Two years ago, before the DOGE cuts, CNBC ranked Virginia as the top state for business. Since Trump took office, Virginia was bumped to fourth place, and now this week, CNBC is promoting Virginia to third place.
"The states face tremendous headwinds, disruptions, uncertainty, federal issues, shifts at the port because of tariffs and other things," says John Provo at Virginia Tech. "If you put all that in front of you and still come out number three, I mean, I think that's, in anybody's world, a pretty good outcome."
He says there's light at the end of the tunnel, noting an AstraZeneca investment in Albemarle County and a new Ely Lilly hub in Goochland.
