Despite Prince George’s County’s deep ties to the federal government and higher education sectors, local leaders say those same dependencies are now exposing vulnerabilities in the region’s labor market.

The unemployment rate is higher and there are 23,000 fewer jobs in Prince George’s County, Maryland, right now compared to 2019 before the COVID pandemic.

“We are heavily reliant on federal government for jobs in our county, and then we’re also heavily reliant on post secondary education,” said Walter Simmons, president and CEO of Employ Prince George’s.

He spoke to a county council committee on Monday.

“Post secondary education is heavily reliant on federal government funding,” Simmons said.

That may have helped during the pandemic, when the government was a source of stability, but

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