Poverty

DC's employment stable yet unemployment rising

by Jenny Reed   •   November 2, 2009 2:09 pm

The latest unemployment data for DC tell two conflicting stories. Over the past year, DC has not lost jobs, while most states across the nation are losing thousands. But DC residents are falling into unemployment at a historically high rate. The skills of many DC residents may not be well-matched to the jobs created in the city, with stepped-up workforce training necessary to fix the problem.

FDR Memorial. Photo by le Haricot.

DC's unemployment rate has quickly climbed to 11.4 percent in September. Some 37,500 DC residents are out of work and actively looking for a job but cannot find one. In just one year, the unemployment rate has risen from 7.4 percent to 11.4 percent, a 50 percent increase.

When people say DC is weathering the economic recession better than most places, it is clearly not the case for everyone. What they may have in mind is the fact that DC as a city is not losing jobs the way other places are. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show employment in DC has been flat over the past year. That's good news, actually. Nearly every other state has seen big drops.

But the flat employment doesn't mean some areas have not shed jobs over the year. In fact, DC's construction industry lost 7,000 jobs in the last year. Trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing, and professional and business services also had large losses. Only two industries had net gains: education and health services (200), and the government, including federal and DC (5,400).

What do these numbers tell us? While the District appears to be holding on to its jobs, thousands of DC residents are losing theirs. And even though jobs are being added to the market, it does not seem that they are going to unemployed DC residents. This suggests that the skills of unemployed DC residents may not be matching the skills required by the industries that are adding jobs.

The District could help reverse the skyrocketing trend in unemployment by really focusing on improving its workforce development programs. This could help get DC residents into the jobs that are available now, and those that will become available as the economy recovers.

Jenny Reed is a Research Associate at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Before coming to DCFPI she worked for several years on children's issues, ranging from social work for children to grants administration.