Washington DC

Washington DC or also known as the District of Columbia is the capital city of United States of America. There are many governmental buildings located in there such as the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and many others. The name Washington comes from the first president of US, George Washington. It is the smallest area in US, which is about 176.75 km2 (District of Columbia 2006).

Before, the national capital of USA moved many times and the congress wished for a permanent location. In 1970, Alexander Hamilton proposed to establish new permanent capital land and George Washington was asked to pick the site. They officially moved on 1 December 1800 from (Philadelphia Answers.com 2011).

The site was chosen along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers as a compromise between Alexander Hamilton and the northern states. As the northern states wanted a new Federal government and southern states wanted a capital placed in a friendly area.

The site was established in 16 July 1791 and

chosen by George Washington. He point three commissioners to help setting new government in 1800. The federal government in 1800 consists of 131 people but the full development of the city and it is not so popular until in 1900s when Mcmillan Commision establishes many national monuments and buildings. (Washington.org 2011).

Industrial revolution was first started in England. Many inventions were created and then there were many factories coming. As England is the first one that starts their first cotton mill, they wanted it to be a secret. So, people that worked in the factory were not allowed to leave the country. At the same time, Americans offered a huge promising reward to whomever that could build cotton-spinning machine in US. One man who works in English cotton factory disguised himself and came to US. He then reconstructed the cotton-spinning machine from his memory and made a factory of his own. US Industrial Revolution had begun since then (Thinkquest.org n.d).

Many factories needed unskilled labor with low payments. Many children and women employed to run the machine. The disadvantages are kids have no free time and some got sick and died because of toxic fumes and dangerous machines. In 1780s, Robert Fulton, the famous inventor builds a steam-powered engine and it is used to power all steamboats across US. Eli Whitney later invented cotton gin (cotton engine) in 1793, which was a machine for taking seeds out of the cotton. After that, Francis Cabot Lowell, a textile manufacturer

built mills for spinning and weaving based on the British cotton mill in England. After industrial revolution begin in US, many famous inventors start to appeared, they are Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell (Thinkquest.org n.d).

Washington is a leading lumber producer. Its rough surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa and white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. The state holds first place in apples, lentils, dry edible peas, hops, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries, and ranks high in apricots, asparagus, grapes, peppermint oil, and potatoes. Livestock and livestock products make important contributions to total farm revenue and the commercial fishing catch of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish makes a significant contribution to the state's economy (Infoplease 2011).

The demographics trends will impact the workforce for more than 10-15 years. There are ups and downs in birth rates, which influence the population growth as well as the workforce. In 1920s until early 1930s, there was low birth rate. Then in 1940s until 1960s it increases much higher. It came to normal in 1970s and early 1990. It is projected that there will be more Asians in US.

The specific trends in the age composition of the workforce vary with future time. The aging of the population is largely the result of boom in births during the 19461964. Over the coming decade, the increase of growth will occur among 45- to 64-year-olds, but the number over age 65 will increase only modestly. However,

between 2005 and 2010, the population of 65- to 69-year-olds will rise by 17 percent and then explode by another 37 percent in the 2010-2020 period. The jump in the 70 and over population will occur between 2010 and 2020, rising by 38 percent from 24.6 to 31.8 million people (United States Department of Labour 2011).

According to American Public Transportation Association researches in 2007, for "Adjusted Data" reported on Table 8, riders 14 years old and younger take only 4 percent of all trips. Persons 15 to 19 years of age take 8.5 percent of all trips, persons 20 to 24 years of age take 11.5 percent of all trips, persons 25 to 34

years of age take 21.7 percent of all trips, persons 35 to 44 years of age take 20.2 percent of all trips, persons 45 to 54 years of age take 17.5 percent of all trips, persons 55 to 64 years of age take 9.8 percent of all trips, and persons 65 years of age and older take 6.7 percent of all trips. Overall, rail mode riders are older than roadway mode riders (Apta.com 2011)

For "Not Adjusted Data" reported on Table 9, riders 14 years old and younger take only 1.7 percent of all trips. Persons 15 to 19 years of age take 7 percent of all trips, persons 20 to 24 years of age take 12 percent of all trips, persons 25 to 34 years of age take 22.6 percent of all trips, persons 35 to 44 years of age take 21.1 percent of all trips, persons 45 to 54 years of age take 18.2 percent of all trips, persons 55 to 64 years of age take 10.2 percent of all trips, and persons 65

years of age and older take 7.1 percent of all trips. Once again, rail mode riders are older than roadway mode riders. (Apta.com 2011)

With both of the data, we can conclude that rail mode riders are older than roadway riders and it is very rare to see kids age 14 years old and less to travel using any modes as we see that both data showing less than 5%. It also shows that the people who like to travel mostly is within the age range of 25 to 44 years old.

Population Growth As we can see from the table at the right side, the population in Washington DC start to increase from year 1800 to 2010. It first started from 8,144 to 601,723 residents. Even though it is a small state compared to other states it has a high number

of population. In daytime during workweek, it is estimated that there are over one million people. In 2007, there were 55.6% black, 36.3% white, 8.3% Hispanic, 5% others (Native Americans, Alaskans, Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders), 3.1% Asian, and 1.6% mixed (Wikipedia 2011)

As a country developed, it will grow to a better living society and also better standard of living. The GDP value is the monetary value of products and services produced in a period of time. It is usually counted yearly. From this, we know that United States of America have a high standard of living as they have a high gross domestic product (investopedia 2011)

From the line graph above, we can see that Washington personal income per capita is higher than the US since 1980. This means that people who work in Washington have a higher salary than what is expected. In 2009, Washington

State ranked 13th in the nation in per capita income (Office of Financial Management 2010).

Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft and missiles, shipbuilding and other transportation equipment, lumber, food processing, metals and metal products, chemicals, and machinery (District of Columbia 2006).

Population ranking

Education ranking

Washington DC was in rank 27 out of 50 states in 2009 with population estimated to be 599,657 (Infoplease 2011). It is known as the top 10 cities in US to do business because it has a powerful government, which can be really a good help to the business. It has had a steady job growth. It was in the top 20 in Supply & Production and population growth categories, and the middle of the pack or below in others (Market Watch 2010). It is also come in 30th position in education (State Master

2011)

As a country get more prosperous and wealthy, the quality of life will raise and they start to demand for better products. There will also improved in healthcare and technology therefore many people can live longer. The life expectancy in US is until 79 years old (The World Bank 2011).

Overall, Washington is one of the promising cities in United States as is the world's most powerful government. With a strong government it can help business to have a good economy and good economy means having a higher sales. Companies will grow and there will be plenty of jobs provided to people. One of the places that recruited most of the employee is the Pentagon. It is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. It hires about 23,000 military and 3000 of ordinary people (Wikipedia 2011). Then, the city will have a constant rate of job growth annually. People will gradually improve their standard of life as they earn more money, which will leads to higher life of expectancy. Technology and healthcare developments will also improved the life expectancy of a certain country. I strongly belief that Washington is an excellent city in every aspect.