WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Mayor Muriel Bowser and business leaders face a balancing act between celebrating high-profile wins and addressing economic challenges during Monday’s D.C. Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of Business event.
The conference, being held at Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus, is often a platform for civic and business leaders to tout achievements and chart a future course, comes as new data suggests troubling signs for the region’s economy.
A joint report from CBRE and the Washington Business Journal finds that federal activity, including jobs, contracts, and spending, is down more than 20% in the region compared to last year. It’s the sharpest decline since the 2014 federal budget cuts, and it’s already being felt in key sectors.
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The slowdown is driven by pullbacks in federal spending and is impacting commercial real estate, business investment, and even Metro ridership…