Daniel Burge - D.C. Policy Center

Daniel Burge is the Director of the Alice M. Rivlin Initiative for Economic Policy & Competitiveness. Before joining the team at the D.C. Policy Center in late October of 2023, Daniel worked at the Center for Washington Area Studies at George Washington University. He performed data analysis for a report on mortgage market trends in the Capital Region and co-authored a policy brief on property tax lien sales. Daniel has published work in The Washington Post and Greater Greater Washington. He received his BA from the University of Puget Sound, his PhD in American history from Boston University, and his MPP (Master of Public Policy) from George Washington University.

You can reach Daniel at daniel@dcpolicycenter.org.

Written By Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Businesses’ expectations for the District’s economy improve

The D.C. Policy Center’s Rivlin Initiative recently finished the fourth round of the Business Sentiments Survey. The survey’s objective is to provide comprehensive information on the business community’s experiences to elected officials, the media, and the broader community. In the fourth round, 220 respondents—mostly executives or owners—completed the survey. Respondents primarily came from…

November 1, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Reports | Economy

2024 State of Business Report: Creating a thriving business environment

Executive Summary Through 2023 and the first half of 2024, Washington D.C.’s economy continued to navigate challenges stemming from the increase in remote work. While there has been a slight uptick in commuting activity, office occupancy remains below half of pre-pandemic levels, leading to higher vacancy rates and substantial discounts on office…

September 27, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Reports | Economy

Business Sentiments Survey 2024 Quarter 3 results

The D.C. Policy Center’s Rivlin Initiative on Economic Policy & Competitiveness launched its Quarterly Business Sentiments Survey in January 2024. The survey’s goal is to provide comprehensive information on the business community’s experiences to elected officials, the media, and the broader community. The survey is distributed in January, April, July, and October…

September 18, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Businesses remain pessimistic about the D.C. economy

The D.C. Policy Center’s Rivlin Initiative recently completed the third round of the Business Sentiments Survey. The survey’s goal is to provide systematic, comprehensive information on the business community’s experiences to elected officials, the media, and the broader community. In the third round, 214 respondents filled out the survey. Many survey respondents…

August 9, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Reports | Economy

Long-term unemployment in the District of Columbia: What it means, how it has changed, and whom it affects

Why should we care about long-term unemployment? The unemployment rate is one of the most closely watched economic metrics. It measures the share of a jurisdiction’s residents who are not employed and are actively seeking work. Partly due to its urban nature, the District’s resident unemployment rate often exceeds the national rate…

July 12, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Reports | Economy

Business Sentiments Survey 2024 Quarter 2 results

In January 2024, the D.C. Policy Center’s Rivlin Initiative launched its Quarterly Business Sentiments Survey. The survey’s goal is to provide systematic, comprehensive information on the business community’s experiences to elected officials, the media, and the public. Distributed in April 2024, the second round of the survey covered businesses’ experiences during the…

July 1, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Housing policy must be a cornerstone of D.C.’s economic development strategy

The rise of remote work has changed the relationship between where people work, on one hand, and where people live, on the other. Instead of living near their workplaces, people who work remotely can live farther away from their jobs. Given this possibility, one would expect that people who work from home…

June 28, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Mixed-use neighborhoods have not been spared from a rising office vacancy rate

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, mixed-use neighborhoods in D.C. were more economically resilient than office-heavy neighborhoods.[1] As the chart above shows, office-heavy neighborhoods have consistently posted a higher annual office vacancy rate than mixed-use ones. Moreover, unlike office-heavy neighborhoods, mixed-use neighborhoods did not experience a substantial increase in their annual office vacancy…

June 14, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 powered the work from home transformation

Earlier this year, a Gusto study found that, compared to 2019, employees—and especially millennials —are residing further away from their workplaces. This trend, according to the authors of the study, is likely a product of younger adults’ capitalizing on the ability to work remotely. Inspired by the Gusto study, we analyzed the…

June 7, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Businesses continue to hold more pessimistic expectations about the D.C. economy than the national economy

Recently, the D.C. Policy Center’s Rivlin Initiative finished the second round of the Quarterly Business Sentiments Survey. The survey’s goal is to provide systematic, comprehensive information on the business community’s experiences to elected officials, the media, and the public. In the second round, 411 respondents completed the survey.[1] The vast majority of…

May 17, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Articles | Economy

Business Sentiments Survey 2024 Quarter 1 results

The D.C. Policy Center launched the quarterly Business Sentiments Survey to provide a detailed, comprehensive picture of what the business community is experiencing to elected officials, the media, and the broader community. The inaugural survey, which was distributed in January 2024 covered businesses’ experiences during the last quarter of 2023 and expectations…

April 8, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Between 2022 and 2023, population growth in lower-cost metro areas outpaced D.C. and other pricier metro areas

In mid-March, the United States Census Bureau released data on the components of population change for metropolitan areas in the United States. The data show that the D.C. metro area’s population grew at a rate of 6 per 1,000 people between July 2022 and July 2023. Compared to other higher-cost metro areas,[1]…

April 5, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the Week: D.C.’s population growth outpaced the region’s inner counties between 2022 and 2023, but some of the region’s suburbs and exurbs grew even faster.

On March 14th, 2024, the United States Census Bureau released data on the components of population change for counties across the United States. The data show that, compared to other counties in the Washington metro region, the District of Columbia experienced better than average population growth. Between July 2022 and July 2023,…

March 22, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy

Chart of the week: Businesses have a dim six-month outlook for the D.C. economy  

The D.C. Policy Center launched its quarterly Business Sentiments Survey to provide a detailed, comprehensive picture of what the business community is experiencing to elected officials, the media, and the broader community.  In its first iteration, 91 respondents – most of whom were business owners and executives –completed the survey.  Large, established…

March 15, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy | Employment

Chart of the week: Employment growth in traditionally important D.C. sectors has been weak

Before the holidays, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its preliminary employment by sector estimates for November 2023. The data show that, between November 2022 and November 2023, two traditionally important sectors for the District’s economy — the federal government and the professional, scientific, and technical services sector —experienced very weak or…

January 4, 2024 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Demographics

Chart of the Week: The most recent population numbers in three charts

On December 19th, the United States Census Bureau released its Vintage 2023 population estimates. Between July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023, the District’s population grew by 1.2 percent (7th fastest across all states) to reach 678,972. D.C. bucked the national trend on this front—population growth for the nation was only 0.5…

December 22, 2023 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Economy | Employment | Regional Dynamics

Chart of the week: Since January 2020, employment growth has been weak, but the regional economy has been doing better recently

When one looks at employment growth and labor force growth since January of 2020, the numbers over the past year look more promising.

December 7, 2023 | Daniel Burge

Competitiveness | Economy | Employment

Chart of the week: Is there any job growth in D.C.?

On Friday, November 17th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its “State Employment and Unemployment Summary” for October 2023. The data show that, since October 2022, total private employment grew by 2.7 percent, while total nonfarm employment only grew by 1.7 percent. Put in numbers, private employment added 14,500 jobs, but…

November 21, 2023 | Daniel Burge

Chart of the week | Demographics | Economy

Chart of the week: Higher income households move to D.C. often and move out of D.C. even more often

In mid-September, drawing on IRS migration data spanning from 2019 to 2021, researchers at the Office of Revenue Analysis in D.C. found that people who moved out of D.C. had higher average incomes than people who moved in. This trend resulted in a loss of taxable income for the District. Using last month’s release of the one-year American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), we examined whether household migration trends from 2019 to 2022 tell a similar story, and whether anything changed in 2022.

November 9, 2023 | Daniel Burge