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Economic development officials track federal workforce shifts; new EDAC leadership introduced
Summary
Loudoun County’s Department of Economic Development told a Board committee Feb. 11 it is monitoring potential impacts from federal hiring and contracting changes while introducing new leadership for the county’s Economic Development Advisory Commission.
The Department of Economic Development updated the Finance Committee on Feb. 11 about regional labor trends, metro ridership increases at Loudoun stations, and potential impacts from changes in federal hiring and contracting policies.
Buddy Reiser (Department of Economic Development) said county analysis estimates about 17,600 federal employees resided in Loudoun in 2023 and about 6,671 federal jobs were based in the county as of third-quarter 2024. Reiser said the department is tracking workforce and contracting changes but that it is “too early to draw any conclusions” about local economic impacts. He told the committee staff is monitoring programmatic changes out of Washington and is prepared to provide outreach to local companies if specific federal actions affect them.
The presentation highlighted local labor-market indicators: Loudoun’s unemployment rate for December was 2.3 percent, and the county saw more than 3,000 newly posted jobs in January and roughly 17,000 active job postings in the county that month. The department also noted ahead-of-forecast ridership gains at Loudoun’s Metro stations: Ashburn saw a year-over-year ridership increase of about 24 percent and Loudoun Gateway about 19 percent.
The committee also heard from new Economic Development Advisory Commission (EDAC) leadership. Tim Shinbar said he is the newly elected chair of EDAC and identified himself as co-founder and CEO of Sky RFID; Matt Holbrook introduced himself as EDAC vice chair and the regional partner for St. John Properties. Shinbar thanked outgoing EDAC leaders and said commissioners will align 2025 work with the Department of Economic Development’s strategy. Commissioners plan to hold a March EDAC meeting with county staff and noted cross-advisory coordination with the county’s EDA and REDC advisory groups.
Committee members asked about federal contractor impacts following a recent presidential executive order discussed in public comments. Reiser said the department has not yet seen widespread local layoffs and is monitoring contractor HR leaders and company resilience. He added that some regional contractors (outside Loudoun) that depended on USAID work have reported impacts but said Loudoun-based firms have not reported similar large-scale effects to date.
Chair Randall and other members thanked staff and the new EDAC leadership. The update was informational; no committee vote was required.
