Despite the monster recession in the late 2000s and subsequent federal budget sequestration, Virginia’s economy is slowly but surely improving, economists told local business leaders Dec. 10.

“The leading economic indices are turning up,” said James Koch, an economics professor and president emeritus of Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business.

Virginia Chamber Foundation officials released their first-ever “State of the Commonwealth Report” during a briefing at LMI headquarters in Tysons Corner.

The colorful, chart-filled, 174-page document was produced by Old Dominion University’s Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, with additional data supplied by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.

Virginia’s economy grew only 0.2 percent in 2014 and likely will increase only 1.33 percent this year, the report read.

Recent statistics put the Washington region “dead-ass last in terms of job growth,” said Terry Clower, deputy director of GMU’s Center for Regional Analysis. “When Detroit is kicking your butt, you’ve got to be worried.”

Budget sequestration cuts “constituted nothing less than a body blow to the [Northern Virginia’s] economic growth,” the report read. Political brinksmanship in Congress skewed business owners’ decisions and shook their confidence, Clower added.

Read the full article at http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/report-va-s-economy-sluggish-but-bright-spots-emerge/article_5b5adf0e-9ffd-11e5-9d36-5bbdeafd3d5f.html