On May 1, 2026, Executive Director Yesim Sayin was quoted in the Washington Business Journal:
“Almost for every job lost in the federal government there has been a job loss somewhere else, in some other sector,” Yasim Sayin, executive director of the D.C. Policy Center, told me.
“I worry whether the losses there are going to continue,” Sayin told me of the private sector losses. Even after they recover from the current shock, the private sector could also be affected by other factors like the lower domestic migration into the region, she added.
Sayin says some of that is reflected in the current employment trends in education sector. She stated that the relatively stable sector saw a 4% decline in employment in the February jobs data.
“We’re now seeing the impacts of maybe students not wanting to come into this region, especially international students, or even not being able to come into the region,” she said. “And so it’s affecting employment in the area.”
Read more: Greater Washington private sector job losses match federal cuts in Trump’s first full year
Additional Reading: Reversing negative hiring trends and promoting business growth in D.C.