This chart from the Joint Economic Committee of Congress comes from a recent report, “Understanding the Economy: State-by-State Snapshots.” It shows how Virginia falls in the quadrant of lower-than-median unemployment and lower-than-median job loss since the beginning of the recession. A logical question to ask is how much credit the McDonnell administration deserves for the state’s superior economic performance as compared to, say, the proximity of Northern Virginia to the Washington, D.C., spending stream.

My sense is that McDonnell deserves some credit (I will provide a small example in the following post) but not as much as he’d like to claim. Too bad the Joint Economic Committee doesn’t provide a metro-by-metro breakdown. That would yield a much clearer picture. I expect that we’d find that Northern Virginia accounts for most of the improvement.

Regardless, Virginia’s stronger-than-average economy is finally benefiting the state Treasury. In a press release issued today, Governor Bob McDonnell announced that the state’s April revenue collections increased 10.6%, bringing the year-to-date performance to 5.6% (adjusted for the accelerated sales tax phase-out) compared to an economic base forecast of 4.7%.

The good news: Virginia is not one of the states descending into a downward economic growth/budgetary spiral. Note to General Assembly: Please don’t blow the surplus on new spending. Use it to bullet-proof the state budget. We can’t count on the federal government to propel Virginia’s economy for much longer.

— JAB