VIRGINIA – A new column from the Cardinal News highlights three different economic reports all issuing warnings about the Commonwealth’s economy because of Donald Trump’s attacks on Virginia jobs. Winsome Earle-Sears backs Trump’s job cuts and has repeatedly downplayed and dismissed the attacks on jobs. The reports point out that: 

• “The state’s two largest metro areas — read: Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, the state’s largest economic engines — are now losing jobs.”
• “Virginia’s economic growth is now among the lowest in the country and is projected to remain slow through at least the first two years of the next governor’s term.”
• “Unemployment is rising statewide and is projected to keep rising in 2026.”

Cardinal News: Virginia’s GDP growth drops from 6.2% to 1.7%. Three new economic reports issue warnings about why and what comes next

• The state’s two largest metro areas — read: Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, the state’s largest economic engines — are now losing jobs.
• Virginia’s economic growth is now among the lowest in the country and is projected to remain slow through at least the first two years of the next governor’s term.
• Unemployment is rising statewide and is projected to keep rising in 2026.
• The three reports come from the Brookings Institution, Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy and the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
•  All three cite the same thing for this sour economic outlook — President Donald Trump’s policies, which have reduced federal employment and increased tariffs, both of which have hit Virginia uniquely hard because many of Virginia’s jobs have been tied to the federal government and beyond that the state has a trade-based economy.
• The ODU report came in the form of a presentation that Robert McNab, who heads ODU’s economics department and is director of the Dragas Center, gave to the Senate Finance Committee. It ended with a slide headlined: “Fewer Jobs, Higher Prices, Slower Growth.”
• The chief economist at Moody’s Analytics recently listed Virginia as one of 22 states that are “in or close to a recession.” Whether Virginia is or is not in a recession, the state is certainly seeing some economic warning signs. Whether Virginia is or is not in a recession, the state is certainly seeing some economic warning signs.
• Over the past year, Virginia has lost jobs in four sectors. Not surprisingly, the biggest of those are federal jobs — 8,700 in all.

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