Best of: "Why we commute" by Carnacki

by: Clem Guttata

Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 12:39:57 PM EDT

There's a story in today's Washington Post that explains why so many from Jefferson, Berkeley and even Morgan counties in eastern West Virginia take the train or drive so far to work in the Washington, D.C., metro region:

...What struck them was just how much of the region's growth in professional and business service jobs occurred in Fairfax: about 100,000 additional jobs, or nearly half of the region's total increase in that category. By contrast, the District added 31,000 jobs in that category, barely more than it lost in the federal sector; Montgomery added 30,000; and Prince George's and Loudoun counties each added 12,000.

In essence, the report's authors say, employment in the region has developed an unusual dual core, with one base in the District, built around the city's remaining federal jobs, and the other in Fairfax, built around a burgeoning private sector. It is an enviable situation, the authors say, because the two cores mostly complement each other, with much of Fairfax's private-sector growth fueled by outsourced federal work and the county's proximity to the District.

The county's many defense- and homeland security-related companies also benefit from being near the Pentagon and the CIA.

"Your typical metropolitan area probably has one job core, but what we are seeing in Washington is pretty unique in that we have two distinct ones. What's also unique is that they coexist and are thriving on each other," said Gerald Perrins, a bureau economist who wrote the report about job trends with Nilson for the most recent issue of Monthly Labor Review.

Most of the story is about the rivalry between the three jurisdiction of Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and the District. But the fact is the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia has been growing because of the economic growth in the metro region.  The Eastern Panhandle is known as the "exurbs," where people commute 1 hour to 2 hours each day for better paying jobs. For instance, a teacher making $30,000 or so in Berkeley County could make $65,000 in Montgomery County. IT jobs go unfilled in Northern Virginia because they can't find enough qualified workers where as the number of good IT jobs in the Eastern Panhandle is probably in the hundreds.

That growth was fueled by the technology boom of the 1990s as well as the rapid expansion of the federal government under the past 6 years of the "conservative" Republican domination of the federal government. (Republicans for small government, my ass.)

So that's led to several political issues for the Panhandle. One is the traditionally Republican Berkeley County is more Republican than ever. A new wave of white flight has occurred in the outer suburbs to the exurbs as the suburbs become more diverse in population. It's not that all Republicans are racists, but after decades of the GOP's "Southern Strategy," people who fear living near people of color tend to vote Republican by large margins. There's also those who wanted to move out to the Eastern Panhandle because they could by an acre lot with a McMansion on it for $450,000 (and rising) while the same house and lot closer in would go for twice or even three times that amount. They're also attracted by West Virginia's much lower taxes than those in Maryland and Virginia.

So that's driven up housing costs significantly, even on older, existing homes. The schools can't keep up with the new students. While other counties in West Virginia have closed and consolidated schools among one or two counties, the Panhandle can't keep up with the need to build new schools which leads to portable classrooms and crowded hallways, classrooms and caferterias.

Plus if you get a good teacher, there's a good chance he or she will leave to take a job in Maryland or Virginia so they can make a lot more money.

So we have more crowded schools without as many programs as the schools in the closer suburbs provide. But remember those lower taxes that many of the Republicans who moved out here say they like? Those same people are often the loudest critics about the overcrowded schools in Berkeley and Jefferson and for not providing the same level of programs as their children received in Montgomery County or Northern Virginia where they paid higher taxes to receive those services.

There is a disconnect in their minds from the fact that they don't receive the same level of services from all state and county agencies and the fact they paid more for those services.

You hear it constantly from them. (They also complain about the lack of entertainment and the restaurants and the fact it takes longer for the volunteer fire and rescue companies to answer calls to their subdivision than it did the paid departments in Fairfax and Montgomery -- but you don't see them volunteering to serve, either.) I'll go more in a future post on how native residents are finding their families split because their grown children can't afford to buy a starter home in the county.

Update: Just read a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure that illustrates why we commute. Average weekly wages for professional and business services (accountants, architects, computer system design, management) by geograhic location of employer (approximate commute times to the center of the jurisdiction. Your time may vary depending on traffic congestion, time of day and driving speed).
United States (first quarter 2005): $937.
Washington, D.C. (90 minutes plus by train from Martinsburg): $1,471.
Fairfax County, Va. (70-90 minutes by car from Martinsburg): $1,574.
Montgomery County, Md. (70-90 minutes by car from Martinsburg): $1,130.
Jefferson County, W.Va. (20-25 minutes by car from Martinsburg): $610.

Update 2: Forgot to mention that about half of the labor forces of Berkeley and Jefferson counties commute to the metro region to work, according to 2000 Census data. Percentage is significantly higher today. Also, the states of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland as well as the District should look at increasing public transportation. One possibility been discussed is expanding MARC train service to Hancock, Maryland or Berkeley Springs, West Virginia (they're across the Potomac River and a short ride from each other).