Fairfax leads in good jobs

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Fairfax County, Va., has become the economic center of the Washington area, generating professional and business management jobs at a substantially higher rate of pay than the rest of the region and the country, according to a Labor Department study released yesterday.

Fairfax's success in attracting federal contracting dollars and becoming a magnet for top private employers stands out even in a region that generally has prospered and shared the benefits of having the three branches of the federal government.

The county generates high-paying jobs for software designers, lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers and other professionals at 2.57 times the rate of the rest of United States. It created nearly half the 230,000 such jobs that opened in the area between 1990 and 2005 -- 103,925 new jobs, according to the Labor Department.

"Fairfax really is the hub which is driving the Washington area. This is no longer just a government town" centered on the District of Columbia, said Diane Nilsen, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist who co-wrote the study.

However, she added that Fairfax County, like other area jurisdictions, continues to benefit from "recession-proof" federal spending.

Growth in professional jobs has been a key to economic success nationwide since the 1990s as the United States has evolved into a knowledge-based economy.

Coupling Fairfax's outstanding performance with a solid showing by Arlington County, the District, Alexandria and Montgomery County at generating such jobs, the Washington area stood well above the rest of the nation's 12 largest metropolitan areas.

Washington produces professional jobs at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the country, while its closest competitors -- Detroit and Raleigh, N.C. -- beat the national average by only a third, the study showed.

"Fairfax is a magnet -- nationwide and worldwide," said economist Gerald L. Perrins, the study's other author. "This is the top rung. There is no other place to go" if you are a business or individual seeking high-paying work and customers brimming with discretionary income.

A "unique mix" of factors keeps Fairfax at the forefront, he said, which most likely includes a generally positive attitude toward growth and development, top quality public schools, low tax rates and a spigot of federal outsourcing funds -- especially for defense, intelligence and homeland security -- that has replaced the work done by a shrinking number of government workers.