Maryland currently is at its lowest level of unemployment in history — 1.8 percent in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — and Virginia is not far behind at 2.5 percent. Both are faring well ahead of the U.S. rate (3.5 percent).
Gary Rappaport, CEO and founder of McLean, Virginia-based shopping center owner and operator Rappaport, says that the employment base is so unique in the region that it can even help buoy the market from the worst of recessionary times.
“In my 50 years of being in Washington, D.C., I’ve observed that recessions are never as bad as they are elsewhere in the country,” says Rappaport.
