DC is snagging workers from nearby cities, a new report shows

With an end-of-year COVID-19 case jump and continued cost savings on office space, it’s no secret that remote work is still the norm among many DC professionals.

But a new report from professional networking platform site LinkedIn found that even with the work-from-home growth, workers are still on the move. They’re changing jobs and shifting locales, and, in doing so, they’re finding their way to DC. That means that even with constantly changing workplace trends, the District’s appeal has not only remained constant, but could be on the path to continued growth as a tech and business hub.

The LinkedIn Workforce Report measures workplace trends from its 180 million US-based site members each month, be it position shifts, new beginnings or migration. In addition to national numbers, it also measures trends in 20 cities across the country.

According to the report, November 2021 was a big hiring month here in the District: New hiring activity was 14.1% higher than October and 25.6% higher than November of 2020. According to the data, November’s activity was the highest for all of 2021 to that point.

For DC, many of these new hires were migrating in, and the area gained the most among workers relocating from nearby cities on the East Coast, the report shows. DC gained the most workers from the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Virginia area, gaining 1.1 workers from this area per every 10,000 LinkedIn members. About 0.74 people per 10,000 members came in from New York City. Meanwhile, both Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia had 0.66 people per 10,000 members arrive in DC in 2021.

A part of this draw could be the recent attraction of many tech companies to the DC area as they seek to hire local talent. This month, management software company Qualtrics, energy conglomerate Siemens and new consulting firm Vivanti are all making pushes for hiring in 2022. In November, defense tech giant Raytheon Science and Intelligence announced it would be adding 400 technologists in Northern Virginia, and McLean, Virginia-based identity firm ID.me continued on its rapid growth of adding over 1,400 employees in 2021.

Doug Greene, senior director of talent acquisition at Raytheon I&S, told Technical.ly in November that although the company operates over 500 locations across the US, it’s looking, in particular, to expand in the DMV.

“From a business perspective, we’ve got some of the best talent, best experience and passion to deliver for those who keep us safe,” Greene told Technical.ly at the time. “With that, the DMV/security corridor is a hotbed for talent and it’s time that we leverage that even more than we do today.”

When it comes to the professionals departing DC, on the other hand, professionals left for far-off (mostly warmer) destinations. About 1.74 per every 10,000 members left for Denver, Colorado, 1.29 for Austin, Texas and 1.27 departed for Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Read the full report