Unemployment In D.C. Region Highest Since '03

The recession is widening the gap between haves and have-nots. Higher-skilled jobs with salaries averaging $75,000 are being created in sectors such as contracting, while lower-skilled jobs averaging $28,000 are being lost, some for good, experts say.

Moreover, the pool looking for work is filled with educated people who are applying for positions for which they are overqualified.

"There's been a 30-40 percent increase in the number of people coming into our one-stop employment centers. More are educated and there's a lot more competition for jobs," said Eric M. Seleznow, executive director of the Maryland Governor's Workforce Investment Board. "The folks on the lower end are struggling. That's where a lot of the jobs are being cut."

During the downturn of the 1990s, the federal government was ramping down. But the Obama administration is planning at least $800 billion in new spending, which analysts said could revive the Washington area economy.

Accompanying new employees will be "plenty of churn, which will be a boon to the real estate market," said Anirban Basu, chairman and chief executive of Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore economic and policy consulting firm.

Others said they expect the net job loss, projected to occur by the second quarter, will reverse by the end of the year.

"My feeling is that we will finish the year with new jobs," said Gregory H. Leisch, chief executive of Delta Associates, a real estate and economic research firm in Alexandria. "I'm calling 23,000 as the number for the year."