The past decade of economic growth in Greater Washington has not been fairly spread out across the entire region. And in many ways, it’s just gotten worse in the last few years.
Those are the conclusions of a new study from Brookings Metro that charted inclusive growth in major cities across the country both before and during the pandemic, and found a rather grim picture of Greater Washington.
Worsening gaps between the annual earnings of white residents and people of color, persistent poverty and barriers to employment continue to define a region struggling with inequities, one where gross metropolitan product (GMP) is growing — but it’s being nerve-rackingly outpaced by other urban regions of its size, or smaller.
Ultimately, researchers ranked this metropolitan region as one of the country’s worst when it comes to widespread inclusive growth. Our region ranked 176th out of 192 markets for inclusive growth for nearly a decade leading up to the pandemic, and a near celebratory 116th in the period from 2019 to 2021. It was one of 52 regions that ranked in the bottom half during both periods, a category Brookings dubbed “stagnant.”
Among the 56 largest markets Brookings studied? We were in 51st place for inclusive growth and dead last for racially inclusive metrics.
