Job Search News

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).

Tags: D.C. Jobs, washington dc jobs

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.