The effect of unemployment on Metro

I just heard a report this evening that Metro ridership has dropped since the fatal Metro accident earlier this year, causing the Metro board to be very concerned with the loss of revenue. 

I wonder, though, about how the loss of jobs and thousands of people who are no longer commuting on Metro is affecting Metro revenues.  While economists and the media seem particularly interested in the number of people filing for unemployment each month and the fact that the number is falling, judging the end of the recession and the promise of an economic recovery by that same number, it seems very inadequate to me.

Are they also analyzing how the people who have been laid off are no longer spending money to travel on Metro daily nor spending money parking cars in the Metro parking lots? Metro may be suffering a severe lack of confidence in the public's opinion due to accidents, continuing delays, inefficient service, and inadequate or unqualified staff that are resulting in fewer travelers on Metro, but that certainly isn't the whole story.

For those of us who have been laid off in the past couple of years, we are cutting back on spending and determing what is a "need to have" and what is a "nice to have." This affects restaurants, clothing stores, gas stations, coffee shops, theaters, and more.

In September 2008 the reported unemployment rate (from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) for the Washington DC area was 4%. As of the end of August the reported unemployment rate for the area: Washington 11.1% (this is above the national average of 9.8%), Maryland 7.2% and Virginia 6.5%. Of course the unemployment rates would be even higher if the people who are discouraged and no longer seeking a job were also included in these numbers.

Over the last twelve months, the number of employed residents in the Washington Metropolitan Division decreased by 64,000. The good news may be that the firings are decreasing but the hiring is not yet happening on a wide scale basis. As of the end of June, 199,800 people in the Washington metro area were looking for work. That's a lot of people no longer contributing to the tax base, Metro revenues, local subscriptions, contributions to charities, support of performing arts organizations, as well as to a variety of local businesses.

The media may be reporting on supposed good news in the economic recovery, but a vast number of people who are out of work and want to work aren't seeing it yet.