Business New DC Area Amazon Job Listing Creates HQ2 Buzz Amazon is hiring an economic development manager in the DC area, a finalist for the company's second headquarters. Reply WASHINGTON, DC — A new Amazon job listing in the DC metropolitan area has stirred up talk about what it means for frontrunners of the second headquarters in the region. The newly-listed economic development manager position involves working on economic incentives with state and local government, as well as chambers of commerce and "other key public/private stakeholder groups." It also involves "supporting the site selection process." The position does not mention working with the federal government. Candidates must have eight or more years of economic incentive or business development experience. But while the DC area sites have emerged as HQ2 frontrunners, Amazon isn't indicating the job has any ties to the HQ2 site. An Amazon spokesman told the Puget Sound Business Journal the position isn't related to HQ2 and could be based in either DC or Seattle. Amazon has not posted the job in any other location, according to the Journal. Northern Virginia, Washington, DC and Montgomery County, Maryland, are all finalists for the company's second headquarters. DC proposed the Anacostia Riverfront, NoMa-Union Station, Capitol Hill East and Shaw-Howard University. Northern Virginia sites could include Arlington-Alexandria and Fairfax-Loudoun Counties. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.) Potential sites have offered incentives to lure the e-commerce company to their areas. While Maryland approved $5 billion in tax incentives for Amazon, Virginia and DC have not publicly released their pitches for Amazon, WAMU reports. Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First, a watchdog looking at economic incentives, told WAMU the DC area doesn't need to offer incentives because of its large skilled workforce, transportation and nearby airports. However, the competitive nature of the selection process means officials can be pressured to offer incentives. The second Amazon headquarters will bring a potential 50,000 jobs to the selected location and invest over $5 billion. The finalists include: Los Angeles, New York, Newark, N.J., Boston, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, Montgomery County, Md. ; Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, Raleigh, N.C. and Toronto.<doc-sep>The biggest news in economic development in the past year has been the bidding war among cities and counties in response to Amazon’s announcement that it is seeking a location for a second headquarters (dubbed HQ2) which would employ up to 50,000 workers with an average annual compensation over $100,000. The company received more than 200 bids, and in January announced a short list of 20 finalists, including Washington D.C. and two areas in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. As the countdown to a final decision continues, it’s worth thinking about the impact—both positive and negative—if Amazon were to select the District proper, which is enjoying a renaissance that nonetheless leaves some residents and neighborhoods behind. A newspaper columnist in Seattle, the home of HQ1, coined the term “prosperity bomb” when reflecting on the upsides and downsides of the company’s presence. Washington, D.C. is a city with significant assets, enough to make us a serious contender for Amazon: an educated workforce, good schools (if you can afford to buy a house in the right neighborhood or know how navigate the system), renowned colleges and universities, and extensive public transportation and walkable communities. The addition of up to 50,000 new jobs, most of them high-paying, would further strengthen and diversify the city’s economy, which has long relied on federal employment and associated industries. But Washington is also a city with deep racial and income divides. Adding tens of thousands of high-paying new jobs could exacerbate those divides unless public and private leaders take strong countermeasures. The city has put big money on the line to attract Amazon, and it should make similarly bold investments in current residents and assets. Washington, D.C. has put big money on the line to attract Amazon, and it should make similarly bold investments in current residents and assets. At both ends of the income spectrum, Washington stands out. The District’s poverty rate is 19 percent, higher than the national average of 15 percent, while its median household income is $73,000, well above the national figure of $55,000. And poverty is deeply entwined with race and education. Ninety-one percent of whites in the District have at least a bachelor’s degree, as do 78 percent of Asians, 43 percent of Hispanics, and 25 percent of blacks. Meanwhile, only 8 percent of whites live in poverty, compared with 15 percent of Asians, 16 percent of Hispanics, and 26 percent of blacks. How might Amazon’s arrival in Washington affect low-income residents? The city’s HQ2 proposal is heavily redacted, so details are scarce, but it does offer some clues on potential areas of impact: Employment. Low-income residents would likely not find many jobs at HQ2, most of which will require at least a bachelor’s degree. The company’s RFP describes the jobs as falling in the following categories: executive/management, engineering with a preference for software development, legal, accounting, and administrative. Residents with less than a bachelor’s degree might benefit from indirect economic impacts as the influx of high-paying jobs increases demand in retail, food service, and entertainment. On the other hand, the District has had a strong white-collar employment base for decades, but this has not prevented double-digit poverty and unemployment rates among less-educated residents. The proposal notes that the city will work with Amazon to “implement alternative arrangements” for the city’s First Source policy, which requires that city residents be given priority for new hires by private companies receiving public support through contracts, grants, abatements, or other municipal financing. The city is within its rights to do this; the law allows the mayor to waive the requirements and enter into special arrangements regarding training and job placement. And given the city auditor’s recent findings on the city’s difficulty in implementing and monitoring First Source, the waiver is not necessarily bad. Nevertheless, there are no specifics regarding the “alternative arrangements,” and it is unclear what the city’s baseline expectations are whether and how many local residents should be hired. Education and training. The city says it would create an “Amazon University,” described as a “customized education and training center for Amazon that leverages the talent of D.C.’s residents and universities at D.C. government’s expense,” with “customized educational curriculum for bachelor’s, master’s and executive education as well as training and workforce development programs.” The proposal further notes that “Amazon University will also facilitate partnerships with universities that bolster Amazon’s pipeline and workforce.” Again, because of redactions there is very limited information, but it appears that the District would develop and financially support training primarily for people at the bachelor’s level and above. The city already spends about $75 million per year supporting the University of the District of Columbia and its community college, and it is not clear if they would be involved in Amazon University. In addition to largely benefitting more highly-educated, higher-income workers, the burden for training appears to fall squarely on the District, with little skin in the game for Amazon. Housing. The most immediate impact of HQ2 for non-college-educated residents would most likely be higher housing costs due to increased demand from the influx of new workers. Housing is already pricey: more than forty percent of District residents face housing cost burdens, meaning they pay more than thirty percent of their monthly income towards housing. Indeed, when Amazon came to the region recently to meet with local officials, many of their questions focused on housing and affordability, suggesting they are well aware that the effects of their location choice will ripple through local housing markets. The city’s proposal acknowledges housing as an issue, noting it will “double-down” on its affordable housing investments, and separately, the newly launched Washington Housing Initiative, led by the private sector, should also help. In addition to the costs it would bear for Amazon University, the District is promising direct incentives to lure HQ2, including relocation reimbursements for Amazon employees, wage reimbursements to the company for each new hire, and other pot-sweeteners redacted from the proposal. One educated guess put the price tag for all of this at $60 to $80 million per year for 10 to 15 years, for a total of $600 million to $1.2 billion. As an externally-oriented sales document, it is not surprising that the District’s proposal to Amazon has little to say about the city’s divides. The Bowser administration is not blind to the city’s inequality: its 2018 proposed budget is subtitled, “A Fair Shot.” Bowser has also focused specifically on the tech sector, releasing a set of recommendations to make the tech sector more inclusive, and partnering with Howard University to launch the Inclusive Innovation Incubator (In3) with a mission of making technology accessible to all. But it is likely that the resources dedicated to these initiatives would be swamped by HQ2, with its huge price tag and major city efforts necessary to expedite construction and development and to stand up Amazon University. There is no quick fix to inequality, but the city should be much more explicit about the steps it will take to cushion the negative impacts of Amazon. It should commit to allocating a significant portion of the net new tax revenues to these efforts, and support a public process to propose and debate potential activities. There is no quick fix to inequality, but the city should be much more explicit about the steps it will take to cushion the negative impacts of Amazon. What about a complementary goal of training and placing 50,000 local workers in a range of careers requiring digital skills? This implicates a much broader swath of the economy than software engineering, as more and more occupations require facility with computers and technology. These investments should focus on both incumbent workers and job seekers, and encompass a wide range of skills: basic computer literacy for those with the least experience, preparation for entry-level technical support and IT operations roles, and preparation for more advanced IT positions such as those in cybersecurity. But technology training should not be limited to the IT sector. Almost everyone who works in an office environment needs to know productivity software, for example, and people in medical jobs (from entry-level up) should know how to use electronic medical records. Technology training is only one idea; there are also strong cases for investments in adult literacy, an increased local earned income tax credit, entrepreneurship, housing, and so on. The point is, the city made a big bet that it is worth huge sums of public money to attract Amazon and its 50,000 jobs. They need to maintain that sense of urgency and purpose to ensure that the bet pays off for ALL residents. Photo credit: Ted Eytan via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)<doc-sep>
Business Amazon Job Ad Reignites HQ2 Rumors For Maryland Amazon is looking for applicants for an economic development manager in the DC area, making people wonder if Maryland might score HQ2. Reply WASHINGTON, DC — A new Amazon job listing posted to the DC metropolitan area has people wondering if the company's eagerly awaited "HQ2" could be coming to Montgomery County, northern Virginia or DC. The newly advertised economic development manager position involves working on economic incentives with state and local government, as well as chambers of commerce and "other key public/private stakeholder groups," according to the job listing. What really has regional government and development officials perking up is this portion of the job, which also involves "supporting the site selection process." The position does not mention working with the federal government. Candidates must have eight or more years of economic incentive or business development experience. Montgomery County, Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., are all finalists for the company's second headquarters. Montgomery County is the only county in the country on the short list. Potential sites have offered incentives to lure the e-commerce company to their areas. While Maryland approved $5 billion in tax incentives for Amazon, Virginia and DC have not publicly released their pitches for Amazon, WAMU reports. Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First, a watchdog looking at economic incentives, told WAMU the DC area doesn't need to offer incentives because of its large skilled workforce, transportation and nearby airports. However, the competitive nature of the selection process means officials can be pressured to offer incentives. But while the DC area sites have emerged as HQ2 frontrunners, Amazon isn't indicating the job has any ties to the HQ2 site. An Amazon spokesman told the Puget Sound Business Journal the position isn't related to HQ2 and could be based in either DC or Seattle. Amazon has not posted the job in any other location, according to the Journal. DC proposed the Anacostia Riverfront, NoMa-Union Station, Capitol Hill East and Shaw-Howard University. Northern Virginia sites could include Arlington-Alexandria and Fairfax-Loudoun Counties, while Maryland sites could include Montgomery County. A Baltimore area bid, which Gov. Larry Hogan first supported, didn't make the first round of cuts by Amazon. The second Amazon headquarters will bring a potential 50,000 jobs to the selected location and invest over $5 billion. The finalists include: Los Angeles, New York, Newark, N.J., Boston, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, Montgomery County, Md. ; Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, Raleigh, N.C. and Toronto. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)