With the exception of the federal government and professional and business services, all sectors during the downturn lost more jobs than they gained. But during the past six or so months, retail, leisure and hospitality, financial services and even construction rebounded.
Another bright spot shows a turnaround in the state and local government sector, which gained 3,000 jobs during a 12-month period.
Experts who study the data were quick to add a caveat: The job gains may be exaggerated because they are being compared with February 2010, when the region endured a debilitating snowstorm that shuttered schools, businesses, the federal government and retail outlets.
“Part of that might be explained by snowmageddon,” said John McClain, deputy director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. Still, not only is the region “growing at what the long-term average is,” he said, “we’re actually exceeding it.”
The labor force grew by 13,400, an indication that some long-term unemployed people were encouraged by positive signs and had resumed their search for work.
McClain said the economy is now creating the type of jobs to fit less-skilled, less-educated people who have languished on the unemployment rolls the longest because they didn’t qualify for the plethora of high-end positions in the federal government and contracting firms.
Buoyed by consumer confidence, analysts said, the retail sector gained 14,000 jobs from February to February.
And construction, which had been stalled by the foreclosure crisis and credit freeze, added 3,000 jobs during that period.
The region’s not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.9 percent, derived from the government’s household survey, is well below the national level. The U.S. not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in February, down from 10.4 percent the year before.
Fairfax County filled more vacancies that it previously had been forced to leave open — 582 from March 2010 to February 2011 compared with 496 from March 2009 to February 2010.
Prince William County government filled 276 positions from February to February, spokeswoman Nikki Brown said.
But several jurisdictions are still cutting jobs. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has proposed eliminating hundreds of positions to help reduce a $300 million shortfall in the 2012 budget.
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