THE HIDDEN UNDEREMPLOYMENT IN DC

[Psycho]

THE HIDDEN UNDEREMPLOYMENT IN DC

 

 

Recently, we have heard in the various medias that the Metro DC job market is one of the most robust in the United States, whereby we are clearly a white collar community as if all is peachy keen in Metro DC.

 

What this report fails to address is:

 

1. While Metro DC is one of the most educated areas of the USA, college grads start jobs at a lower salary when adjusted for cost of living than in most other major cities;

 

2. That most jobs in DC do not last very long; and

 

3. That most workers have a lot less, left over from their hard labor, paying taxes, high rent and other higher costs of living essentials.

 

This issue of those plentiful jobs not paying as well, as elsewhere, the short life of jobs and all being wiped out by the high cost of living in DC seems to be a subject totally ignored by our local political leaders.

 

Many believe that the DC worker is living high off the hog when in reality, 80% of them live high off their credit cards, credit lines and from pay check to pay check whereby if they lose their job, most would have to sell off that condo or home and move to another part of the Metro area that is a bit cheaper.

 

So when we hear that DC is a very transient city, this may be attributable to the fact that wages vs. cost of living may be the number one factor behind this transient behavior.

 

Of course, Washingtonians who have been in DC for 20 years or more are not affected by these factors mentioned herein as they came and settled in when costs were more reasonable and people were able to entrench themselves without going deep into debt in the process.

 

It is time our elected leaders start focusing on matters of the pocketbook, take great action to help control the cost of living like implementing a better Rent control, rent freezes, increasing the standard deduction levels and more.

 

It is the cost of living vs. income earned why our population went down 200,000 people since 1989.