While unemployment continued to rise in many places across the country in April, finding jobs in Washington, D.C. became easier, according to the most recent data U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the month, the metro’s jobless rate dropped 0.3 percent from March’s 5.9 percent to 5.6 percent.

During the same month the national unemployment rate rose 0.4 percent from March’s 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent. This means that, despite the economic recession affecting the majority of the country, job seekers in D.C. aren’t struggling as badly to find work as those located in many other places.

Although the D.C. metro saw some relief during April, the area’s jobless rate is still significantly higher than it was a year ago. During the same month in 2008 only 3 percent of the area’s residents were unable to find work.

The only problem with using unemployment rates to gauge the economic state of an area is the fact that certain portions of the population are not included in the figures. Discouraged workers who have given up on finding employment and have exhausted their benefits are not factored in, nor are individuals who have taken part-time jobs when a full-time position was not available.

According to the Bureau, non-farm jobs in D.C. have fallen by 1 percent over the course of the last 12 months. The largest decline in employment in the area experienced over this period of time was in the mining, logging and construction sector. During the last year employers in this area have done away with 10.7 percent of these positions.

Other areas of employment that have seen the loss of a significant number of positions in the area over the last 12 months include: information (a 6.3 percent decline), manufacturing (a 4.1 percent loss), financial activities (also a 4.1 percent decrease), trade, transportation and utilities (3.8 percent loss), and leisure and hospitality (a 2.7 percent decline).

The industry that saw the largest increase in positions over the last year was the education and health services sector. Due to the necessity of many of the services provided by this industry, it continues to create new jobs despite most economic issues. This fact has caused many experts to refer to this sector as “recession proof”.

Other area of employment that the Bureau says increased the number of jobs they provide over the last year in D.C. included: professional and business services (a 1.1 percent gain), the government sector (a 1.4 percent increase), and the “catch-all” category called “other services” (a 0.5 percent rise in jobs).

Finding technology intensive Washington DC jobs shouldn’t be difficult for the foreseeable future, according to a recent American Electronic Association report. The organization found that the capital city is the second largest center for such jobs in the nation, topped only by the New York metro area.

Currently this industry employees over 295,000 DC residents. When compared to 2001, that is a 2.6 percent increase in employment in this industry. The largest portion of these jobs are in the field of computer system design, which accounts for 137,000 positions. The report found that DC is the leading region in the nation for this specific job.

The number of high-tech positions in the area made city fifth in the nation for job concentration. Employees in these fields are also making more than those in many other cities. AEA’s report found that DC is third in the U.S. as gar as payroll for these jobs goes. Altogether, businesses fork out approximately $27.4 billion to high-tech professionals, according to statistics from 2006. Nationwide the industry added somewhere around 90,000 jobs during the course of last year.

The largest problem for high-tech employers in the DC area and throughout the nation is the fact that fewer students are choosing to major in the fields of math and science. This makes finding the right workers for a variety of job openings difficult.

Despite this, jobs in Washington DC continues to attract a larger number of professionals in such fields that most areas can. Michael Black, assistant professor of computer science at American University, attributes this to the high concentration of lawmakers and federal agencies. “If you want to get a contract from the Department of Defense or homeland security or any number of these, this is the right place to be,” said Black.

He believes that the number of high-tech jobs in DC will continue to grow as will associated industries. “I don’t think we’ve seen all the applications of computers yet,” he said.

Black agrees that that largest problem is finding workers to fill job vacancies in this industry. “In terms of international students, the U.S. is shooting itself in the foot,” he explained. “I have a number of international students that are having a tough time [getting visas]. That’s a real problem….these students may end up going to other countries,” he explained. Every student who is turned away from working in America means a gain for the competition.

Chris Hansen, President of the AEA, believes that the Bush administration needs to do something to fix this problem. He says that immigration laws need to be changed “to enable high-skilled foreign talent, especially people educated in U.S universities, to stay and work in the country…and contribute to the U.S. economy.”